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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCH-OCVB minutes 062007Minutes Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Board June 20, 2007 The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Board met at The Carolina Inn, 211 Pittsboro Street, Chapel Hill, at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 20, 2007. Board Members Present: Lee Pavao Moses Carey, Jr. Rick Strunk Jon Wilner Rachael P. Hawkins Bob Ward Bill Crowther Liz Parham (ex-officio) Board Members Absent: Frances Dancy Linda Convissor Jim Ward Creston Woods Mark Sherburne Staff Present: Laurie Paolicelli Betty Davis Linda Ekeland Patty Griffin Guests: Ellen Shannon, Chapel Hill Magazine Willie Best, Assistant Orange County Manager CALL TO ORDER Mr. Lee Pavao, Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:03 a.m. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS Mr. Pavao opened the meeting by welcoming Board Members and guests. Mr. Pavao recognized Mr. Willie Best, recently hired to serve as Assistant Orange County Manager. Chairman Pavao announced that Mr. Best would be serving as Interim Director of the Economic Development Commission until the position is filled due to the resignation of Ms. Dianne Reid. Mr. Pavao introduced Ms. Ellen Shannon, owner of Chapel Hill Magazine. Ms. Shannon shared her vision of increasing tourism in Orange County through the wide distribution of the magazine. The upcoming issue of the magazine will contain a 32-page arts section. Ms. Shannon stated she anticipated the creation of a wedding guide for Chapel Hill/Orange County in the near future as well as a visiting friends and family promotion slated for later this year. Shannon said she is committed to increasing coverage of Hillsborough and Carrboro at the Visitors Bureau’s request APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Pavao asked for approval of the May 16, 2007 Board Meeting minutes. Mr. Moses Carey made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Mr. Bill Crowther seconded the motion. With all Board Members in agreement, the motion was carried unanimously. COMMITTEE REPORTS Budget & Finance Mr. Moses Carey, Finance Chair, reported that according to the May 2007 financial report that 82% of the revenues had been received and 89% of the budget expenses dispensed. The expenses and revenues of the Bureau indicate the Bureau is in a good financial position. Marketing Committee Mr. Rick Strunk, Marketing Committee Chair, stated the marketing committee met with Jennings Advertising earlier in June. Some elements of the meeting with Jennings as follows: Jennings research revealed the positioning line “the feeling never leaves you” reflects what visitors are saying about the area and the marketing committee recommends the use of the positioning line as part of the (greater) Chapel Hill brand. Along with the positioning line Jennings will use the same line on the website for Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough. Strunk also stated that the domain name for the website would be changed to “Visit Chapel Hill. org.” Jon Wilner asked that the Bureau also purchase Carrboro and Hillsborough domain names that were similar and have those sites point to the “visitchapelhill” URL. Paolicelli agreed and said the Bureau would purchase those two sites. Liz Parham suggested the Bureau also research the value of a visitchapelhill.NET site. Mr. Pavao asked for a motion to approve the marketing committee’s approval of the recommendations of Jennings Advertising and the marketing committee’s agreement to move forward on the “the feeling never leaves you” positioning line for all materials, as well as a shift to the visitchapelhill.org domain name Mr. Jon Wilner made a motion to accept the recommendations of the marketing committee. Mr. Bill Crowther seconded the motion. With all board members in agreement the motion was carried unanimously. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT Ms. Paolicelli presented a brief overview of the Visitors Bureau’s work for the previous year. The June Board Packet contains a list of accomplishments, sales highlights, product development and the research study included in the Executive Director’s report. Paolicelli reported that key metrics were strong: hotel rate and demand were on the increase; visitations to the Franklin Street office had increased 87% over the previous year; and the visitors bureau had experienced a significant year of milestones including enhancements to the visitors center; increased tourism revenues; increased sales leads and bookings; new media placements; and the arrival of new tourism products, including 175 rooms in though new hotels. Ms. Paolicelli spoke on the Gay tourism initiative stating that targeting the Gay tourism market could impact the tourism industry in Orange County and the Bureau would “test” the industry this year. Ms. Paolicelli stated that two board members’ appointments would be expiring December 31, 2007 (Crowther and Dancy). There is a need to begin the nomination process for replacements on the board. Ms. Paolicelli reported that the bureau has tentative plans to conduct an American FAM tour targeting the areas of New York, Chicago and the Washington D.C to bring meetings and visitors to Chapel Hill. Sales Report Ms. Linda Ekeland, Director of Sales, presented an overview of sales activities for the FY 2006-2007. Some of the highlights of sales were attending three major tradeshows, two new hotels in Chapel Hill, two sales blitzes, support of regional soccer tournament with room nights for the Chapel Hill hotels in July 2007, a month traditionally viewed as a shoulder season. Ms. Ekeland reported hotel trends in Orange County were changing. This past year January showed an increase in occupancy and the peak months for occupancy were March and April. July occupancy increased dramatically last year. This is a complete change from previous years. Communications Report Ms. Patty Griffin, Communications Manager, reported that she attended the North Carolina Convention and Visitors Bureaus Association (NCACVB) annual meeting along with Ms. Paolicelli and Ms. Ekeland. The Visitors Bureau received three Destination Marketing Achievement awards. The Bureau’s 2007 Official Visitors Guide received a Platinum award for “Best Primary Publications.” The website received a Gold award for “Best Destination Marketing Initiative”. The 2005-2006 Annual Report received “Best Local Constituent Communication Outreach”. Ms. Paolicelli presented a PowerPoint presentation with the history and role of the Visitors Bureau in Chapel Hill/Orange County tourism industry. NEW BUSINESS Mr. Pavao suggested that next year would be an appropriate time to ask for an additional 1% increase in occupancy tax from the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. Mr. Pavao suggested that an ad hoc committee be formed to promote the request for the increase for the 2007-2008 fiscal year. Mr. Crowther reported that Cathleen Turner, Director of the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough had resigned the position and has taken a position with the organization Preservation North Carolina. Ms. Elizabeth Reid (assistant to Ms. Turner) will be acting as interim director until a permanent director is named for the vacancy left by Ms. Turner. OTHER MATTERS OF THE BOARD Ms. Liz Parham reported that the valet parking for west end restaurants was “catching on.” Parham also reported that a committee is working to encourage downtown merchants to give to local agencies to assist in deterring the homeless and panhandlers in downtown Chapel Hill. Ms. Parham announced that Ms. Paolicelli had been appointed to serve as an ex-officio member of the Downtown Partnership group. OLD BUSINESS Mr. Carey encouraged the chairman to bring hotels to the commissioners meeting when the request is made to increase the occupancy tax in 2008, to demonstrate their support of this request. Carey reminded CHOCVB board members that both Orange County and municipalities such as Chapel Hill maintained independent prerogatives where the hotel tax authority was concerned. Both could levy up to 3%, which Chapel Hill currently enacted, with funds earmarked for general fund and for a Visitors Bureau grant of about 10% of the collection each year. Orange County currently levied 2% with Commissioners allocating 100% of that revenue to the operation of a Visitors Bureau. The 1% tax hike could result in a $225,000 addition to the Bureau’s budget, should the industry continue to perform at its current level of production. The 1% tax hike would have visitors paying a total of 6% occupancy tax on Chapel Hill rooms. ADJOURNMENT With all business of the Board completed, Mr. Pavao asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Strunk made the motion to adjourn and seconded by Mr. Wilner. With all Board Members in agreement, the meeting was adjourned at 9:10 a.m. ________________________________ _________________________________ Minutes Drafted by: Minutes Accepted by: Laurie Paolicelli, Executive Director Lee Pavao, Chair _________________________ _______ _________________________________ Date Date