The National Council of State Tourism Directors (NCSTD) recently honored Travel Oregon with a Mercury Award naming its Print Visitor Guide the best in the country for the second consecutive year. 'Travel Oregon strives to provide meaningful content to potential visitors looking for authentic travel experiences' said Kevin Wright, Vice President of Global Marketing at Travel Oregon. 'Bringing home the top U.S. award for our visitor guide for the second year in a row is particularly significant to us as it supports our research, which shows our inspirational trip-planning content resonates with consumers.' Travel Oregon's Official Visitor Guide provides travelers with details on outdoor recreation, food and drink, culture and heritage, regional travel suggestions and 'Local's Picks' that highlight lesser-known must-see destinations. The guide serves as the companion piece to other communication vehicles, such as TravelOregon.com and E-Newsletters that focus on general travel, the culinary scene and outdoor adventure in the state. The guide, published by MEDIAmerica, has a circulation of 300,000 and is produced annually. This marks the eleventh Mercury Award presented to Travel Oregon in the past eleven years. Last year, in addition to winning Best State Tourism Print Visitor Guide, Travel Oregon brought home awards for Best Tourism Interactive Marketing and Best State International Marketing for the first Oregon/Portland Korean Visitors Guide. With its Mercury Awards, the U.S. Travel Association (U.S. Travel) recognizes state and territory tourism offices for excellence and creative accomplishment in travel marketing and promotion. Winning programs serve as models to foster imagination and innovation in the development of future destination programs. To order a free copy of the award-winning guide, go to TravelOregon.com. NCSTD is an industry council of the U.S. Travel - the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the travel industry that generates $1.9 trillion in economic output and supports 14.4 million jobs. U.S. Travel's mission is to increase travel to and within the United States. For more information, visit www.ustravel.org. The Oregon Tourism Commission, dba Travel Oregon, works to enhance visitors' experience by providing information, resources and trip planning tools that inspire travel and consistently convey the exceptional quality of Oregon. The commission aims to improve Oregonians' quality of life by strengthening economic impacts of the state's $8.8 billion tourism industry that employs nearly 92,000 Oregonians. www.TravelOregon.com