HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 10-07-2008 - 3bORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: October 7, 2008
Action Agenda
Item No. ~'~
SUBJECT: Recognition of Visitors Bureau Awards
DEPARTMENT: Chapel Hill/Orange County PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No
Visitors Bureau
ATTACHMENT(S):
Press Release Announcement
INFORMATION CONTACT:
Laurie Paolicelli, 968-2060
PURPOSE: To recognize the Orange County Visitors Bureau for being awarded six travel and
tourism awards by industry colleagues across the region at the annual North Carolina tourism
conference held this summer.
BACKGROUND: The Visitors Bureau received honors for its Visitors Guide, Website, Meeting
Planner Promotion, and tourism direct mail campaigns. The Orange County tourism materials
were voted the best in their field by a panel of experts.
The Visitors Bureau was created by the Orange County Commissioners in 1992 to increase
tourism to Orange County. The tourism sector has grown 5-7% each year since that time. The
Visitors Bureau continues to market the assets of Orange County, growing spending and bring
new tour bus groups, events and conferences to the County.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The Visitors Bureau is funded through a hotel occupancy tax paid by
visitors who stay at Orange County hotels. The Bureau annually spends $250,000 on
marketing, and visitors to Orange County spent $137 million in 2007 according to the North
Carolina Department of Commerce.
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board join the Manager in
recognizing the Visitors Bureau staff for its hard work. Visitors Bureau staff including Director
Laurie Paolicelli, Linda Ekeland, Patty Griffin, Dale Chodorow, Tina Fuller and Susan Rice are
planning to attend the meeting.
a
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Patty Griffin, Communications Director
Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau
919-968-2063
pgriffin@visitchapelhill.org
For Release Upon Receipt -Today's date June 5, 2008
Chapel Hi1VOrange County Visitors Bureau is Top Award Winner at Destination
Marketing Association of North Carolina Annual Meeting
ASHEVILLE, NC - (June 5, 2008) -The Chapel HilUOrange County Visitors Bureau
received six Destination Marketing Achievement Awards at the ninth annual Destination
Marketing Association of North Carolina's Annual Meeting & Awards Banquet held June 2 at the
Asheville Renaissance Hotel.
The Visitors Bureau was honored with one platinum, four gold and one of the innovation
destination marketing awards. A panel of tourism leaders from New York, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina and Florida judged the competition.
The Visitors Bureau's 2008 Official Visitors Guide won a Platinum award for "Best
Visitor's Guide." The 2006-07 Tourism Tribune Annual Report received a Gold Award for "Best
Local Constituents Communications" and the Tourism News Briefs Enewsletter was honored with
Gold in the "Best Local Constituents Communications -Newsletters" category. The Bureau's
Leisure travel ad Everything To Do List won Gold in the category of "Best Print Advertising -
Leisure," and the sales department's 60, 000 Fans meeting planners promotion won a Gold
"Destination Marketing Initiatives" award. Finally, the Chapel HilUOrange County Visitors
Bureau received one of the three Innovation Awards given in the "Best Local Stakeholder
Relations" category for the 1,000 Postcards Promotion, which took place last December.
"The purpose of the Destination Marketing Achievement Awards is to honor and
showcase innovation, best practices, creativity and outstanding efforts/results in destination
marketing. Chapel HilUOrange County Visitors Bureau was recognized in several categories for
their outstanding work," said Amanda DeHaven, Executive Director of the association
"Promoting Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough through compelling promotions is
our priority. We are thrilled that a jury of our peers acknowledged these efforts with these six
important awards," said Laurie Paolicelli, executive director of the Visitors Bureau.
The Destination Marketing Association of North Carolina, formally the North Carolina
Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus, received 150 award entries from convention and
visitor bureaus from across North Carolina. Membership in the association is comprised of 44
destination-marketing organizations helping represent the $16 billion tourism industry in North
Carolina. The Chapel HilUOrange County Visitors Bureau competed in the medium sized bureau
category.
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