2015 Annual Report

2015 FY ANNUAL REPORT

VLN BOARD OF DIRECTORS Diana Merrifield At-Large

Randy Marion Randy Marion Auto Group Chairman

Dee Jetton HFFA

Woody Washam Alliance Bank and Trust Vice-Chairman

Jeff Fissel Rural Hill

Joe Harwood NC Dept. of Environment & Natural Resources Community Affairs

John Bradford Town of Cornelius Rodney Graham Town of Davidson

Barbara McCall Ladd, McCall & Associates, CPAs Treasurer

Jeff Neely Town of Huntersville

Cathy Bentz Bentz & Associates, PA Assistant Treasurer

Huntington Daly Daly Seven

John Kurti K-Squared, Inc. At-Large

Boris Bunich Beacon Investment Management Group (IMG)

Brad Marsico SREE Hotels

Sid Sadlowski Michael Waltrip Racing

EX-OFFICIOS: Ryan McDaniels LNREDC

Joe Douglas Captiva Restaurant Group, LLC

Cissi Lyles Davidson College

Bill Russell LN Chamber of Commerce

NC TOURISM FACTS: •

In 2014, approximately 48.2 million person-trips were taken in North Carolina and ranked #6 in the US in terms of domestic visitation.

•

Domestic visitors spent a record $21.3 billion statewide in 2014, an increase of 5.5 percent from the previous year.

•

Visitor expenditures directly supported 204,909 jobs and generated more than $4.9 billion in payroll income across North Carolina.

•

The top states of origin of total visitors to North Carolina were in-state residents, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, New York and Tennessee.

Source: NC Dept. of Commerce

RETURN ON INVESTMENT In FY 2015, VLN affiliated events brought in

82,538 attendees who spent

$21,946,386 ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT

$21,946,386

That means....VLN returned

$35.57 to the community per every dollar funded

TOWN FUNDING

$616,996.83

TOWN FUNDING vs.

ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT

RECRUITING THE FANS...

VISITLAKENORMAN.ORG Website FY Comparison:

Print advertising included NC Travel Guide, Charlotte Visitors Guide, Southern Travel & Lifestyles Magazine, Association News, Sports Travel, and several other printed publications reaching 2,209,600.

FISCAL YEAR

2014

2015

% CHANGE

USER SESSIONS

272,897

293,356

7% ↑

PAGE VIEWS

795,151

850,572

7% ↑

29,878

42,892

44% ↑

111,796

164,325

47% ↑

MOBILE USER * SESSIONS MOBILE PAGE VIEWS

Digital advertising efforts reached over 35,023,285: • VisitNC.com - (Ranked #4 for referral traffic to VLN) • CharlottesGotALot.com • Carolina Renaissance Festival • Association Executives of NC • Southern Travel & Lifestyles (digital issue) • 8 Media Sites (regional)

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)

SEARCH ENGINE

VLN.ORG RANK

Google

#1

Bing/MSN

#1

Yahoo

#1

Ask

#2

Aol

#1

SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook – 4,711 Likes Pinterest – 785 Followers Trip Advisor – 4.5 out of 5 rating Twitter – 2,838 Followers Wordpress - 4,802 Views You Tube – 4,204 Views

AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS GENDER

38.9% MALE

61.1% FEMALE AGE DISTRIBUTION

5

6.32%

10

11.94%

15

13.77%

20

18.64%

25.33%

25

23.99%

30

0 18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

...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.

Average Visitor Walk-Ins Per Day March - October: 19 people November - February: 10 people WEB AUDIENCE | Top 10 RANK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

PLACE OF ORIGIN North Carolina South Carolina Georgia Florida Ohio Virginia New York Pennsylvania Tennessee 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 Connecticut 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 Florence-Myrtle Beach, SC Nashville, TN Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, SC/Asheville, NC 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 2014 value of a volunteer hour to be $23.07. Our ambassadors & interns contributed 4,850 hours in FY2015 - a cost savings to VLN of $111,889.50.

Jennie Leng - Marketing & Visitor Services Coordinator jleng@lakenorman.org

FY15 AWARDS • 2014 Gold Award – Best Print Advertsing - Group Market Great Lake Living Magazine

• 2014 Innovation Award – Destination Excellence in Workforce Development: Ambassador Program *This marks the 5th 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