FY2019 Annual Report

2019 FY ANNUAL REPORT

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DY M A R I O N

VLN BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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Randy Marion Randy Marion Auto Group Chairman Woody Washam Carolina Trust Bank Vice-Chairman Joe Harwood The JHS Group, Inc. Community Affairs Barbara McCall Ladd, McCall & Associates, CPAs Treasurer Cathy Bentz Bentz & Associates, PA Assistant Treasurer

Joe Kindred Kindred Restaurant

Diana Merrifield At-Large

Vinay Patel SREE Hotels

EX-OFFICIOS: Ryan McDaniels LNREDC

Denis Bilodeau Cornelius Commissioner

Melinda Bales Huntersville Commissioner

Michael Jaycocks Huntersville Parks & Recreation

Bill Russell LN Chamber of Commerce

Jeanna Hoffman Daly Seven, Inc. Joe Douglas Captiva Restaurant Group, LLC Andrew Durstewitz D9 Brewing Company Jim Fuller Davidson Commissioner Boris Bunich Beacon Investment Management Group (IMG) Cissi Lyles Davidson College

NC TOURISM FACTS: •

In 2018, domestic visitors spent a record $25.3 billion statewide, an increase of 5.6% from 2017.

•

Visitor expenditures directly supported 230,560 jobs and generated more than $6.3 billion in payroll income across NC.

•

NC continues to be the 6th most visited state in the nation with 51 million visitors in 2018.

Source: NC Dept. of Commerce

In FY 2019, VLN affiliated events brought in

128,633 attendees who spent

$23,642,697 That means....VLN returned

$28.19 to the community per every dollar funded

ACCOMMODATIONS FUNDING vs. ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT

$23,642,697.40

ACCOMMODATIONS FUNDING

$838,654.16

RECRUITING THE FANS...

VISITLAKENORMAN.ORG Website FY Comparison:

Your Adventure Awaits at the Lake

laketoberfest

sheepdog trials

americarna live

sept 7-nov 3

Oct 12

nov 9-10

nov 30

get your tickets now at carolina.renfestinfo.com (704) 987-3300

www.visitlakenorman.org

@visitlakenorman

• Google Paid Search • OurState.com • Plus More Media Sites

THE LAKESIDE OF CHARLOTTE

CAROLINA RAPTOR CENTER

@VisitLakeNorman

2019

% CHANGE

USER SESSIONS

294,851

405,066

37.4% ↓

PAGE VIEWS

654,692

847,782

29.5% ↓

DOWNTOWN DAVIDSON

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 – 14,151 Likes Instagram - 3,806 Followers Pinterest – 884 Followers Twitter – 4,480 Followers You Tube – 38,619 Views Trip Advisor – 4.5 out of 5 rating

CORNELIUS 6 DAVIDSON 6 HUNTERSVILLE

CHARLOTTE CYCLEBOATS

2018

↓

amazing maize maze

Digital advertising efforts reached over 26,849,504: • VisitNC.com • CharlottesGotALot.com • Carolina Renaissance Festival

FISCAL YEAR

LAKE NORMAN’S UPCOMING FALL EVENTS

↓

Print advertising included NC Travel Guide, Charlotte Visitors Guide, Parents Magazine, Garden & Gun Magazine, Our State Magazine, Outside Magazine, Carolina Panthers Yearbook and several other printed publications reaching 4,050,408.

RAMSEY CREEK PARK

VisitLakeNorman.org

AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS GENDER

41.1% MALE

58.9% FEMALE AGE DISTRIBUTION

30

0

6.72%

5

9.98%

10

17.44%

15

20.81%

20

21.74%

23.32%

25

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: 10 people November - February: 7 people WEB AUDIENCE | Top 10 RANK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

PLACE OF ORIGIN North Carolina Georgia South Carolina Illinois Virginia Florida New York Ohio Pennsylvania Tennessee

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

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

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

PLACE OF ORIGIN Charlotte, NC Atlanta, GA Raleigh-Durham, Fayetteville, NC Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem, NC New York, NY Chicago, IL Washington DC/Hagerstown, MD Nashville, TN Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, SC/Asheville, NC Philadelphia, PA

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

Travis Dancy, CSEE

Cyndi Bartley

Rodrigo Carreon

Executive Director ashworth@lakenorman.org Operations & Marketing Director bartley@lakenorman.org During FY2019, we had 26 ambassadors and 10 interns work here at VLN volunteering for 4,576 hours. The independent sector’s estimated value for volunteer time is $24.69 per hour for 2018.

The total volunteer time value equates to $112,982.

Director of Sales tdancy@lakenorman.org Visitor Services & Marketing Coordinator rcarreon@lakenorman.org

FY19 AWARDS Gold Award

Best Community Relations - Ambassador and Internship Program

Platinum Awards

Best Meetings & Convention Marketing - Meetings Venue Guide

TESTIMONIALS

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 | visitorcenter@lakenorman.org @VISITLAKENORMAN