2014 Annual Report

2014

FY Annual Report

VLN BOARD OF DIRECTORS Randy Marion Randy Marion Auto Group Chairman Woody Washam Alliance Bank and Trust Vice-Chairman Joe Harwood NC Dept. of Environment & Natural Resources Community Affairs Barbara McCall Ladd, McCall & Associates, CPAs Treasurer Cathy Bentz Bentz & Associates, PA Assistant Treasurer John Kurti K-Squared, Inc. At-Large

Huntington Daly Daly Seven

Jeff Fissel Rural Hill

Boris Bunich Beacon Investment Management Group (IMG)

John Bradford Town of Cornelius

Vinay Patel SREE Hotels Joe Douglas Captiva Restaurant Group, LLC Sid Sadlowski Michael Waltrip Racing Cissi Lyles Davidson College Diana Merrifield At-Large Dee Jetton HFFA

Rodney Graham Town of Davidson Jeff Neely Town of Huntersville EX-OFFICIOS: Bill Russell LN Chamber of Commerce Ryan McDaniels LNREDC Jeff Hare Managing Director Aventus Advisors

NC TOURISM FACTS: • Tourism is one of NC’s largest industries & in 2013, approximately 52.5 million person-trips were taken in NC, an increase of nearly 16% from 2012 • Domestic tourism expenditures directly supported 197,690 jobs for NC residents, up 2% from 2012 & a record high employment figure • NC ranks 6th in total person-trip volume by state behind California, Florida, Texas, New York, & Pennsylvania Source: NC Dept. of Commerce

95 EVENTS = 90,836 ATTENDEES In FY 2014, VLN affiliated events brought in 90,836 attendees who spent over an estimated $22.6 Million at our local businesses

Event EVENTVLN ATTENDANCE Attendance

100,000

Return ON on Investment (ROI) RETURN INVESTMENT (ROI) (# of dollars generated by VLN in visitor spending per each dollar funded)

$80.00

ROI

$60.00

80,000

$52.17

$50.00

$43.63

$42.01

$40.00

81,829

$70.00

$39.69

70,000

$30.00 $20.00

$24.26

$10.00

60,000

$0.00 FY2010

FY2011

FY2012

FY2013

FY2014

54,844

That means...

VLN returned $39.69 to the community per every dollar funded

90,000

TOWN FUNDING vs. ESTIMATED Chart Title ECONOMIC IMPACT $23,057,380

$19,049,976

$25,000,000

$11,978,300

$20,000,000

$21,813,190

$22,673,872

$15,000,000

$0

30,000

20,000

$10,000,000 $5,000,000

40,000

$493,719 FY2010

$453,409 FY2011

$441,979 FY2012

$499,932

10,000

$571,206 0

FY2013 FY2014

Total Funding Received

Estimated Economic Impact

43,477

50,000

90,836

$90.00

85,526

$100.00

RECRUITING THE FANS...

VISITLAKENORMAN.ORG Website FY Comparison:

EXPERIENCE LAKE NORMAN WILDLIFE & BIRD TOU RS at Carolina Raptor Center

Print advertising included Visit NC Visitors Guide, Visit Charlotte Visitors Guide, & several other printed publications reaching 1,799,000.

FISCAL YEAR

2014

2013

% CHANGE

USER SESSIONS

272,897

216,227

26% ↑

PAGE VIEWS

795,151

640,519

24% ↑

29,878

18,519

61% ↑

111,796

74,436

50% ↑

FORENSIC TOURS

Behind the Scenes Self-guided Tours Private Live Presentations

N A S C A R T O U R S at Michael Waltrip Racing

S T A N D U P P A D D L E B O A R D I N G on Lake Norman PhotoWILD

SHOOTING RANGE Marcy’s Eagle Research Observatory Tour

C U L I N A R Y T O U R S of Historic Davidson

Raptor Keeper for a Day

VISITLAKENORMAN.ORG FOR DETAILS ABOUT EXPERIENCE LAKE NORMAN

Digital advertising efforts reached over 32,023,285: • VisitNC.com - (Ranked #1 for referral traffic to VLN) • CharlottesGotALot.com • YellowPages.com • AnglersChannel.com • Carolina Renaissance Festival (site & FB) • 8 Media Sites (regional)

MOBILE USER * SESSIONS MOBILE PAGE VIEWS

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): VLN website rankings from the 5 major engines based on search term “Lake Norman”.

(Non-sponsored, non-advertised results - content driven ranking)

SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook – 3,141 Likes Pinterest – 603 Followers Trip Advisor – 4.5 out of 5 rating Twitter – 2,015 Followers Wordpress - 4,082 Views You Tube – 2,628 Views

...WITH THE RIGHT AUDIENCE Visitor profiling assists in providing the appropriate services for guests & in determining potential markets to target. VLN uses demographic analyses to create an accurate picture of our audience.

Currently, families make up the largest part of our visitor base, followed by groups.

WEB AUDIENCE | Top 10 RANK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

PLACE OF ORIGIN North Carolina Georgia South Carolina Virgina New York Ohio Florida Pennsylvania Tennesee California

VISITOR CENTER | Top 10 RANK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

PLACE OF ORIGIN North Carolina Ohio New York Pennsylvania Florida New Jersey Virginia Michigan California Maryland

METRO AREAS | Top 10 RANK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

PLACE OF ORIGIN Charlotte, NC Raleigh-Durham, Fayetteville, NC Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem, NC Atlanta, GA New York, NY Washington DC/Hagerstown, MD Greensville, Spartanburg, Anderson, SC/Asheville, NC Nashville, TN Augusta, GA Cleveland, Akron, Canton, OH

AMBASSADORS & INTERNS The VLN Ambassadors & Interns contribute a tremendous amount of time, energy, skill sets, & support services - all of which are paramount to VLN’s success. These ultimate team players help operate our Visitor Center, man event booths, respond to inquiries, provide assistance with VLN initiatives & act as personal tour guides.

VLN STAFF Sally Ashworth, CDME - Executive Director ashworth@lakenorman.org Travis Dancy, CSEE - Director of Sales tdancy@lakenorman.org Cyndi Bartley - Operations & Visitor Services Manager bartley@lakenorman.org

The Independent Sector estimates the 2013 value of a volunteer hour to be $22.50. Our ambassadors & interns contributed 4,050 hours in FY2014 - a cost savings to VLN of $91,125.

Adrinne Beaver - Marketing & Visitor Services Coordinator beaver@lakenorman.org

FY14 AWARDS • 2013 Gold Award – Best Destination Constituents

Communications from the Destination Marketing Association of NC (DMANC): FY2012 Annual Report

• 2013 Gold Award – Best in Destination Print Advertising from the Destination Marketing Association of NC (DMANC): Ad placement in the 2013 Charlotte Official Visitors Guide • 2013 Innovation Award – Best Destination Workforce Development from DMANC: Hopewell High School Academy of Hospitality & Tourism Participation *This marks the 4th consecutive year VLN has received two or more awards

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Mission Statement

Visit Lake Norman is a non-profit organization dedicated to positively impacting our local and regional economies through tourism. We are committed to generating economic benefits for our towns of Cornelius, Davidson, and Huntersville by bringing national and regional events to the area and by marketing our destination to the broadest base of potential visitors possible.

Organization Vision

Visit Lake Norman is the destination marketing leader of the Lake Norman region, representing all communities through the promotion and development of our resources for the maximum economic benefit to our towns, businesses, and residents.

19900 West Catawba Avenue Cornelius, NC 28031 | Suite 102 704-987-3300 | Fax: 704-892-5313 | visitorcenter@lakenorman.org