CHOCVB Board Meeting Minutes 061720

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2 | P a g e C H O C V B B O D M e e t i n g J une 1 7 , 2 0 20 Tanya Moore – University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Our semester is going to start early and finish early. Our move-in now will begin the week of August 3rd and classes will start August 10th. We will finish right around Thanksgiving and students will go home and not return until January. We will reschedule our December commencement. Right now most staff is still working from home but we have started to phase-in our research operation and we will continue to move staff back to campus this summer. We are working on a public health campaign. We will be requiring masks in classrooms and public spaces. Our dining halls are going to look a lot different. For additional information on who is coming back when and testing and other information see the Carolina Together Roadmap. UNC is talking about keeping two dorms as places to quarantine students when they become ill on campus. Mayor Pam Hemminger commented on short term rentals, “We are seeing an interesting spike in short- term rentals. They are full up in our community from people who have come down from up North to stay in our community and quarantine here. Laurie responded that the Bureau is working closely with AirDNA to track demand in short-term rentals and the challenge is that AirDNA/AirBNB does not have a good practice in place for reporting cancellations. There is a lack of consumer confidence in the sanitation efforts. Our hotels are investing in comprehensive sanitation yet we do not have that type of assurance from short-term rentals. Sam Vadgama – Resident Inn, Chapel Hill We have started seeing a little bit of a glimmer in the leisure market but, as Manish said, it is really not enough because we are so dependent on everything that goes on around the university. In a town like Chapel Hill there are so many restaurants and small businesses that are dependent on tourism. I have personally spoken with many owners and they are also very concerned. What I am hearing is this rebound is not going to take place anytime soon. Lee Davis, CEO of Clean Design, Inc. This presentation is giving you an overview of what other travel and tourism entities are doing around the country. We looked at, basically, every type of CVB that is out there just to get a sense of what everyone is doing. We need to really take care of our small businesses. Something that we are seeing now as things are starting to open up and is definitely to the point we made earlier about safety, is we went from “We are here when you are ready.” which is trying to stay top-of-mind in people’s heads to really ensuring the safety when they come to our town. Anything that helps drive that safety is what we are seeing most of the messaging going to right now. The good news is the majority of people are ready for a road trip. So, what people say they want; they want safety protocols in place. A majority of people want to go somewhere. 80% of those are likely to make it a driving trip, not a flying trip. They are probably going to stay within 500 miles. 94% plan to spend time in nature. So, again, what we have to offer outdoors is going to be critical. 67% are likely to go camping. I think we can play up the notion that staying in a hotel is probably the cleanest thing you can do. Laurie responded that staff is approving the marketing plan with Clean Design. They have commissioned a map illustrator to produce an illustrated, fun map of where to go during this time. We are parlaying that into both a local campaign using $25,000 in relief funds that we received from a County grant. We are also spending $200,000 with Clean Design, which is a cut from the last few years but we are also using that to get a new digital program out there pronto. DocuSign Envelope ID: 8AD3FF29-5083-4B94-98F6-B99CC7D47930