FILE - People float down a popular section of the Deschutes River in Bend, Ore., on June 15, 2026. Bend is a top regional destination for tourists over Labor Day weekend.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
Bend and Central Oregon are expected to be the top Labor Day weekend travel destinations in the state, according to the travel group AAA, despite rising travel costs and gas prices reaching record levels for the holiday weekend.
The projected weekend tourism rush would be a welcome infusion of cash for Bend and Central Oregon businesses before the summer tourism season winds down. Visit Bend spokesperson Tim Neville said Labor Day is the region’s “last breath of summer.”
Labor Day is nonetheless huge for local businesses, said Nate Wyeth, Visit Bend’s chief of staff, because the shoulder season can be a financial challenge for businesses that rely on summer booms.
“Any opportunity that these small businesses have to make money on key holiday weekends like this, they’re gonna do all they can to recover as much of those dollars as possible,” he said.
While summer recreation has been dampened by wildfire smoke in recent years, Wyeth said the smoke from this year’s record wildfire season didn’t hang around long enough to affect earnings in Bend.
AAA spokesperson Marie Dodds said the organization expects a record number of travelers to get out this weekend, a trend that has continued since travel restrictions eased after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Central Oregon is such a beautiful area. There’s so much to see and do. It’s one of those places where there truly is something for everybody,” Dodds said. Bend’s proximity to the Redmond airport — and being within driving distance for many Oregonians — contributes to its popularity, she added.
The expected tourism surge comes in spite of travel costs being up across the board, Dodds said: hotels and flights are more expensive this year and global conflicts in Iran and Ukraine are pushing up prices at the pump.
Travelers driving from Portland to Bend this weekend can expect to pay an average of $4.82 at the pump, nearly a dollar more than last year’s Labor Day gas prices. Drivers should expect traffic to be at its worst around 5:45 p.m on Friday, according to the travel club.
It’s not just gas prices. Hotels are up compared to this time last year as well, which Dodds said could be a result of downstream effects from global conflicts or labor costs.
Average room rates in Bend over Labor Day weekend increased by $44 from 2024 to 2025, according to Visit Bend, a local tourism office for the Central Oregon city.
The Westman Hotel, a high-end boutique hotel that opened its doors in Bend’s former U.S. Post Office in December 2025, is charging higher rates than initially projected, said Sondra Storm, Embarcadero Management Group CEO and founder, due to inflation and increased operating costs.
She said other hotels the group manages in Oregon are also increasing prices because of higher costs.
Airports are predicted to be busier than normal despite the fact that domestic flights are more expensive than last year’s Labor Day weekend, according to AAA. Jodi Low, Redmond Municipal Airport spokesperson, encouraged travelers to arrive at least two hours before departure due to the expected increase in air travel.
The municipal airport is under construction to add 80,000 square feet. It is expected to be finished in November 2027, she said.
“We do not anticipate delays or cancellations related to weather or construction,” Low said in an email.
