Orange County NC Website
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13 <br />• Downtown merchants credit out -of - towners for over 50% of their business (one merchant credits <br />visitors for over 90% of his business - with receipts to prove it!). <br />• The top two reasons retirees travel is natural scenic beauty (63%) and historic sites (52 %). <br />• Vacation travel is more oriented to long weekends than extended vacations and over 50% of <br />inquiries about the Triangle result in actual travel to the area. (This is much higher than the <br />industry average.) <br />• Over 40% of local visitors stay in private homes and visit friends. (The national average is less <br />than 24 %.) <br />• 91 % of the county tax base is residential property taxes. <br />• There are under 1,000 hotel, motel, and bed and breakfast rooms in Orange County. The average <br />occupancy for the past year was 53 %. (Every room night has direct impact on restaurants, <br />merchants, and attractions, concerts and sporting events.) <br />The county, as a whole, currently has an investment of approximately $50,000 in direct visitor <br />services. This includes Chambers of Commerce, the Downtown Commission and the Preservations <br />Societies. <br />• There are currently four primary providers of visitor services: Chapel Hill/Carrboro Chamber of <br />Commerce (5 days a week), Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce /Visitor Center (6 days a week), <br />Chapel Hill /Carrboro Downtown Commission (5 days a week), and the UNC Visitor Center (5 days <br />a week). <br />N <br />