2013-2014 Annual Report for the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau

ACHIEVEMENT MILESTONES

2013–2014 ANNUAL REPORT CHAPEL HILL/ORANGE COUNTY VISITORS BUREAU

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ACHIEVEMENT MILESTONES DEAR ORANGE COUNTY PARTNER: DURING FISCAL YEAR 2014, Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau employed several new tactics to drive incremental visitation, as well as meeting and conference groups, to Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough.

We enhanced a multimedia marketing campaign to tout Chapel Hill and Orange County as “The Edge of the Triangle” to curious travelers who are most likely to visit the area’s college town with a funky vibe.

• We reached further into two of our top markets — North Carolina and Virginia — to connect with leisure visitors, meeting planners, sports organizers and media.

• We made our content more accessible and easier to navigate online by adding quick links, photos and event calendars.

• And, we worked to fill critical need periods for the destination by hiring new staff and implementing campaigns to increase mid-week hotel bookings, from Sunday through Thursday.

Throughout this annual report, you will find myriad ways, in which the bureau worked on behalf of our community partners to strengthen Chapel Hill and Orange County’s brand, generate new business and provide an exceptional return on investment to Orange County.

It is our privilege to share with you our accomplishments from the past year that have helped ensure Chapel Hill’s standing as a sought after college town, place to visit and hold sporting events and conferences.

Best regards,

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ANTHONY CAREY

LAURIE PAOLICELLI

Chairman

Executive Director

© Copyright 2014, Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau

TABLE OF CONTENTS FINANCE ������������������������������������������������������������4

OUR STAFF

MARKETING ���������������������������������������������������� 5

Laurie Paolicelli, Executive Director

ONLINE MARKETING �������������������������������� 6

Marlene Barbera, Sales Director

VISITOR SERVICES ������������������������������������� 7

Patty Griffin, Communications Director Tina Fuller, Administrative Assistant

EVENTS ���������������������������������������������������������������� 8

Susan Rice, Visitor Services

PUBLIC RELATIONS ���������������������������������� 9

Martha Shannon, Director, Arts Commission

CONVENTION SALES ������������������������������10

Andrea Riley, Visitors Services, Saturday

TOURISM ����������������������������������������������������������� 11

*Linda Ekeland served as Sales Director from April 1998–August 2014 upon her retirement

2013-2014 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Anthony Carey, Chair Siena Hotel, Representing Orange County Hotels Dave Gephart, Gephart Marketing, Representing Alliance for Historic Hillsborough Lee Storrow, Representing Town of Chapel Hill Debbie Hepp, Liaison for Orange County Arts Commission Greg Overbeck, Chapel Hill Restaurant Group, Representing Chapel Hill/ Carrboro Chamber of Commerce Mark Sherburne, The Carolina Inn, Representing Orange County Hotels Jim Parker, Summit Engineering, Representing Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of Commerce Karen DeHart, Representing North Carolina High School Athletic Association Aaron Bachenheimer, Representing University of North Carolina

Lee Pavao, At-Large, Emeritus Michelle Johnson, Representing Town of Carrboro Mike Gering, Representing Town of Hillsborough

ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Earl McKee, Chair

Penny Rich, Representing Board of Orange County Commissioners

Bernadette Pelissier, Vice Chair

Annette Stone, Town of Carrboro EDC, Ex-Officio member

Mark Dorosin

Meg McGurk, Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, Ex-Officio member Others who served during part of the fiscal year Gene Pease, Town of Chapel Hill Gordon Jameson, Liaison for OCAC Lydia Lavelle, Town of Carrboro Jack Schmidt, Orange County Hotels Laura Morgan, UNC

Mia Day Burroughs Barry Jacobs Renee Price Typeface:

Penny Rich

Typeface:

Bonnie Hammersley, County Manager Alice M. Gordon served until December 2014

Cover photo: Kennedy Williams, Makayla Davis, and Noelle Brown at RADIUS PIZZERIA & PUB on Churton Street in downtown Hillsborough 3

FINANCES The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau is funded through the Hotel Occupancy Taxes collected by Orange County, NC.

ANNUAL AUDIT

THE VISITORS BUREAU GENERATES

The Visitors Bureau received

$15

an annual financial audit which highlights our county’s internal

FOR ORANGE COUNTY FOR EVERY $1 INVESTED IN THE ORGANIZATION

control policies, an exceptional year in travel and tourism, and prudent use of funds.

REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES 2013 – 2014

REVENUES occupancy tax $1,257,878 • 85%

investment earnings $723 • <1% state arts grant $30,726 • 2% town of chapel hill support $188,683 • 13%

total revenues: $1,478,010

EXPENDITURES

recurring capital $2,055 • <1% arts commission operations $133,869 • 10%

sales & marketing $604,406 • 46% operations/administration $202,010 • 15% personnel services $366,119 • 28%

total expenditures: $1,308,459 4

MARKETING The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau uses multi-layered marketing campaigns, high-end publications and on-line media to sell the uniqueness of the Orange County experience and brand the area as a world-class vacation and meetings destination.

36 MILLION AD IMPRESSIONS social media 5% radio 5%

online 50%

LAUNCHED NEW magazine and newspaper 40%

LOCAL CHEFS ADS TO SHOWCASE ORANGE COUNTYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FOODIE SCENE

PANDORA RADIO ADS 5

ON-LINE MARKETING

Avg. 40,000 monthly pageviews of visitchapelhill.org

Welcoming 50+ FOLLOWERS a month

New FAN PAGE introduced in 2014

OCCUPANCY STATS 2013–2014 2013–14

2012–13

Percent Change

67.4%

65.1%

+3.5%

ADR

$110.55

$105.39

+4.9%

RevPar

$74.49

$68.62

+8.6%

$43.8 Million

$36.9 Million

+18.5%

Occupancy

RoomRev

Occupancy—Percentage of rooms occupied Average Daily Rate—Room revenue divided by rooms sold Revenue Per Available Room—Room revenue divided by rooms available RoomRev—Total room revenue generated from the sale or rental of rooms

REVENUE PER AVAILABLE ROOM UP DOUBLE DIGITS IN ORANGE COUNTY HOTELS

“

Everytime the Visitors Bureau promotes our event or attraction on-line, our inquiries go up. We are grateful that the Bureau spends considerable resources in photography and on-line media. A mention on their Facebook or travel website surely means we will see a rise in business.

— Barbara Rich, Manager, Barn at Vallhalla

FACEBOOK ADS 6

”

VISITOR SERVICES 77,650

• LOCAL VISITOR SPENDING $168.59 MILLION in 2013. This was a 4.32% change from 2012.

PIECES OF VISITOR LITERATURE PRODUCED

• 1,700 JOBS in Orange County were directly attributable to TRAVEL AND TOURISM.

& DISTRIBUTED

171,550 WEBSITE USERS

• TRAVEL generated a $31 MILLION PAYROLL in 2013 in Orange County.

470,094 PAGE VIEWS

• 1.96 MILLION VISITORS (Attendance at tracked visitor attractions & events).

2.5 MILLION OVERNIGHT VISITORS to the area.

8,330 WALK-INS TO VISITOR CENTER

VISITORS BUREAU RECEIVED

THREE DESTINATION MARKETING ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS AT THE 2014 N.C. TOURISM LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE. PLATINUM AWARD for

GOLD AWARD for “Best

“Best Print Advertising

Print Advertising for the

AWARD for “Destination

for the Group Market”

Leisure Market”

Community Partnerships”

went to:

went to:

went to:

THINK OUTSIDE THE

IS THERE A SECRET

The Visitors Bureau Sales

LUNCH BOX, which

INGREDIENT?

Department’s HATS ON TO

highlights Orange

ABSOLUTELY, which

FIGHT BREAST CANCER EVENT

County’s unconventional

features Crook’s Corner

BOOTH, coordinated jointly

Chef Bill Smith and

with our hospitality industry

highlights our vibrant

partners, at the December

meeting spaces

food scene

BEST PRACTICES INNOVATION

2013 Association Executives of North Carolina Tradeshow 7

VISITORS BUREAU STAFF AT WORK

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LAURIE

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

▼

▼

PATTY GRIFFIN pitches travel

PAOLICELLI with Carrboro Mayor

stories on Chapel Hill and Orange

Lydia Lavelle and Alicia Stemper at

County to Florida Travel Writer Lea

the Spotted Dog.

Lane at the Society of American Travel Writers Media Marketplace in Mississippi in October 2013.

ADMINISTRATOR TINA FULLER

▼

greets Chapel Hill Town Councilman VISITORS CENTER COORDINATOR

Carolina Inn for the new Goodnight

SUSAN RICE helps Floridians

Carolina Family Fun Map and

Michael and JoAnne Wyman plan

Companion mobile App Launch.

their visit to Orange County.

SALES DIRECTOR MARLENE

▼

Jim Ward in December 2013 at The

BARBERA and Lauren Deal with the North Carolina Botanical Garden at AENC Tradeshow. Orange County Booth encouraged meeting planners to “Seek Unique,” highlighting unique meeting and conference venues in Orange County.

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▼

PUBLIC RELATIONS The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau tells the story of our destination to garner positive publicity for the community while promoting the amenities of the community. Targeted, positive media exposure helps to generate consumer interest. The Visitors Bureau hosted 18 travel writers and editors representing international, national and regional media during the year.

SAMPLE OF MEDIA ACCOLADES IN 2013–2014 Wall Street Journal Highlights Chapel Hill as Retirement Community BusinessInsider.com Names Chapel Hill one of the 10 Most Exciting Cities in America Where to Retire Magazine — 8 Havens for College Hoops Southern Lady Magazine features Southern College Town Chapel Hill as a wonderful place to visit and magical place to call home Travel+Leisure names Chapel Hill one of American’s Best Towns for July 4th Chapel Hill’s Dining & Spirits Scene Touted in AAA World Magazine Chapel Hill Food and Accommodation memories in Deep South Magazine Huffington Post touts Merge Records 25th anniversary event in Carrboro as can’t miss music festival CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg says TerraVita Food & Drink Festival is a can’t miss southern food festival Hillsborough was featured in a 30-page spread in the May 2014 issue of Wrightsville Beach Magazine, 36 Hours in Hillsborough.

The above through June 2014

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER 9

CONVENTION SALES The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau exposes meeting planners to the area, educates them on the area’s myriad destination services and amenities to fulfill every need for their programs, and generates incremental meetings business for our community.

SALES NUMBERS July 2013 – June 2014

BOOKINGS: 52 NUMBER OF DELEGATES: 7334 NUMBER OF ROOM NIGHTS: 3991 ESTIMATED SPENDING: $2,689,628 REQUEST INFORMATION: 1059 SALES LEADS: 70 SITE INSPECTIONS: 23 CONFERENCE SERVICES: 153

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HELPING VISITORS PLAN THEIR ORANGE COUNTY VACATION NEW VISITOR PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED IN 2013–2014

• Visitors Guide • Goodnight Carolina Family Fun Map and App

• 12 Ways to Enjoy Chapel Hill/ Orange County in 2014

• Top 10 things to Do for Summer Visitors and Families

• Post Cards • Discover Historic Hillsborough • Six Itinerary Rack Cards (Chapel Hill/Carrboro in Two Hours, Enjoy the Chapel Hill Area with Kids, The Great Outdoors: Garden & Trails, Browse Hillsborough, No Blue Monday, and Top 20 Unique Eats)

THE BUREAU CREATED

TWO NEW VISITOR PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS AND WORKED WITH THE TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL PRODUCING THE

MAYORS INNOVATION CONFERENCE WELCOME VIDEO

• Orange County NC Farms Open For You 2014 Wall Calendar and Brochure and 2014 Wall Map

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ABOUT THE CHAPEL HILL/ORANGE COUNTY VISITORS BUREAU

OUR MISSION To market Orange County, in collaboration with community stakeholders; to attract and serve visitors; and to positively impact the local economy and quality of life.

OUR VISION To establish and promote Orange County as a premier place to visit; and a conference destination.

CHAPEL HILL/ORANGE COUNTY VISITORS BUREAU VISITOR CENTER HOURS: Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.

Saturday, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

501 West Franklin Street Chapel Hill, NC 27516 Toll Free: (888) 968-2060 Phone: (919) 245-4320 Fax: (919) 968-2062 E-mail: info@visitchapelhill.org Website: www.visitchapelhill.org Twitter: @orangecountync Facebook: Visit Chapel Hill & Orange County, NC

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