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Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Orange County · Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau
Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Advisory board meeting Arts and public artBudget and appropriationsEconomic development incentivesFees and utility ratesIntergovernmental agreements

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Continued IIIApproval of Minutes Deferred to 20 August

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau board met on 18 June 2025 at the Graduate hotel to hear from the head of Visit Raleigh and to take up the bureau's own long-term strategy and 2025-26 budget.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The bureau's director asked the board to back hiring a strategist, Chris Cavanaugh of Magellan Strategies, at roughly $25,000 over 18 months, to work with hotels, community leaders and commissioners on a long-term plan. Her argument was defensive as much as ambitious: county revenues have been hard this year, tourism has not, and a plan would keep tourism money from being used to plug budget holes. She also asked the board to look at the state statute that requires Chapel Hill to allocate only 10 percent of its occupancy tax revenue to tourism, against a future Chapel Hill occupancy tax of about $1.32 million a year. Members supported bringing in a strategist, with one cautioning that the product should be an action plan rather than a strategic plan.

The contrast with Wake County framed the morning. Visit Raleigh's chief executive described 18.5 million visitors in 2023 generating $3.2 billion and $370 million in state and local tax, 19,000 hotel rooms and a $12.7 million budget, against Orange County's 1,600 rooms. He set out Raleigh's ten-year plan: a $375 million convention centre expansion and amphitheatre, a 550-room Omni hotel with 50,000 square feet of meeting space starting construction in January 2026, carrying $75 million in incentives funded from occupancy tax through municipal bonds and an 80 percent room block booking agreement.

On the bureau's own business, June's MexTour match sold about 26,000 seats; staff hired a public relations consultant to reach the Mexican community because of fears over immigration enforcement. UNC Athletics wants the Savannah Bananas in June 2026 and has asked the bureau for $25,000 toward the bid. Tourism is flat and the budget projects a 2 percent increase, after the bureau lost its fund balance and some Chapel Hill funding. The board also heard that the Union Grove Farms proposal for an amphitheatre and hotel failed at the board of adjustment.

The meeting had no quorum, so the May minutes were carried to August.

How the votes went

No quorum, so no votes were taken beyond adjournment. The May minutes were held over to the August meeting.

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (8)

Procedural · 4Staff or committee report · 2Minutes approval · 1Presentation · 1
  1. I Call to Order
    Procedural
  2. II Introductions
    Procedural
  3. III Approval of Minutes
    Minutes approval
    Held over for want of a quorum.
    Deferred to 20 August
  4. IV Visit Raleigh CEO
    Presentation Economic development incentivesIntergovernmental agreements
    The president of Visit Raleigh set out Wake County's tourism figures and its ten-year plan, including a $375 million convention centre expansion and amphitheatre and a 550-room Omni hotel carrying $75 million in incentives funded from occupancy tax.
  5. V Executive Directors Report
    Staff or committee report Arts and public artBudget and appropriationsFees and utility rates
    The director proposed hiring a strategist at about $25,000 over 18 months for a long-term county tourism plan, and asked the board to look at the statute capping Chapel Hill's tourism allocation at 10 percent of occupancy tax. Tourism is flat; the 2025-26 budget projects a 2 percent increase after the loss of fund balance and some Chapel Hill funding.
  6. VI Community Updates
    Staff or committee report Arts and public art
    Uproar needed $50,000 by 30 June and will place 60 artist installations across Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough. Carrboro is a finalist for the All-America City Award. The Union Grove Farms amphitheatre and hotel proposal failed at the board of adjustment.
  7. VII New Business
    Procedural
    None
  8. VIII Adjournment
    Procedural
    Adjourned 9:00 a.m.

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