Agenda - 05-30-2013 - 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Visitors Bureau Fund - continued Visitors Bureau Fund: Chapel Hill /Orange County Visitors Bureau Major Services • Position Orange County as a desirable visitor, conference, events destination. • Encourage longer stays; increased spending and repeat visits to Orange County. Implement a comprehensive marketing program. Contribute to Orange County's economic development and quality of life. • Operate the County's Visitor's Center, six days a week, which provides walk -in services to 9,000 visitors, annually. The center is located at 501 W. Franklin Street, in Chapel Hill. FY 2012 -13 Outcomes Anticipate a 3% increase in visitor spending; a 2% increase in conference and Bureau - initiated meeting bookings; and a 2% increase in qualified sales leads distributed to hotels and meeting facilities. Advertising: Collaborated with Clean Design, an advertising agency, to increase County marketing efforts. Tasks included increasing visitor inquires, demand to website and social media sites, referrals County establishments and events, and event attendance. The agency also gauged the ability of ads to compute to positive editorials in media vehicles and gathered hotel feedback on how frequently guests had mentioned the advertising campaign. Municipal Efforts: Developed marketing programs for each town which resulted in an additional $700,000 for Chapel Hill; $55,000 for Hillsborough events and restaurants; and $25,000 for Carrboro events and community programs. Chapel Hill contributes $175,000 to Visitor Bureau operations; neither town provides a contribution. • Contributed to attendance increase for special events in Orange County, including farm events, town events that bring in day -trip visits and overnight guests who contribute to restaurant, hotel and retail receipts. Positioned the amenities in Orange County, on -line, through growing mobile and social marketing users. Performance Measures 2010 -11 Actual 2011 -12 Actual 2012 -13 Budget 2012 -13 Projected 2013 -14 Budget Service: Position Orange County as a desirable visitor, conference, events destination. Conference, meeting bookings 49 70 85 85 88 Generate sales leads for hotels 67 88 90 90 100 Build and maintain attraction visitations (in millions) 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.1 2.5 Service: Encourage longer stays; contribute to Orange County economic development. Room nights generated from Bureau 3,939 4,200 4,400 4,400 4,600 Media stories on Orange County 245 260 280 280 300 Annual tourism impact* (in millions) $144.1 $156.1 $160.0 $160.0 $162.0 *Note: Information reported by the NC Department of Commerce. 221