NC govwatch

← All meetings

September 17,2025 Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Orange County · Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau
Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Advisory board meeting Appointments and personnel

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved Approval of August 20, 2025 minutes Approved without objection

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's advisory board takes up two officer nominations, for vice chair and treasurer. It also hears from tourism consultant Chris Cavanaugh of Magellan Strategy Group, who is studying where the bureau should focus over the long term, plus updates from the executive director and from Media Two, the bureau's advertising buyer.

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 board approved the August 20 minutes, then appointed Creston Woods vice chair and Matt Hughes treasurer, both without objection. Tourism consultant Chris Cavanaugh of Magellan Strategy Group told the board he will meet one-on-one with members to help determine where the bureau should focus, and said destination-marketing organizations generally are shifting from promoting places to managing them. He named a slowing baby-boomer travel market and rising political pressure over how occupancy-tax money gets spent as pressures on the industry, and said occupancy-tax collections have grown from $89 million in 2022 to $450 million in 2024.

The executive director said the bureau is awaiting results on revised sports-event bids and plans visitor-feedback studies with Aramark in October, including intercept surveys and zip-code analysis. Media buyer Jason Boyer of Media Two reported a summer promotion for the MexTour event cost under $4 per lead and drove 7,639 of the bureau's 8,017 total site leads; the bureau's fall budget drops spending on video advertising and shifts it to paid search and social media.

How the votes went

The board approved the August 20 minutes, and the appointments of Creston Woods as vice chair and Matt Hughes as treasurer, all without objection.

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 (6)

Staff or committee report · 2Appointment · 2Minutes approval · 1Presentation · 1
  1. Approval of August 20, 2025 minutes
    Minutes approval
    The board approved the prior meeting's minutes as submitted.
    Approved without objection
  2. Guest presentation: Chris Cavanaugh, Magellan Strategy Group
    Presentation
    A tourism consultant outlined a study of where the Visitors Bureau should focus, citing shifts in destination marketing toward destination management and challenges from declining boomer travel and political pressure over occupancy-tax use.
  3. Executive Director's Report
    Staff or committee report
    The director reported on pending sports-event bids, flagship program partnerships, rising market-research costs, and planned October visitor-feedback studies.
  4. Marketing Update: Jason Boyer, Media Two
    Staff or committee report
    The bureau's media buyer reviewed summer campaign results, including a MexTour promotion with a cost-per-lead under $4, and outlined a fall media plan that shifts spending away from video toward paid search and social.
  5. New Business: Vice Chair nomination
    Appointment Appointments and personnel
    The board nominated and appointed a new vice chair.
    Creston Woods appointed vice chair, without objection
  6. New Business: Treasurer nomination
    Appointment Appointments and personnel
    The board nominated and appointed a new treasurer.
    Matt Hughes appointed treasurer, without objection

Agenda changes

What moved between published versions of this agenda. Item numbers shift constantly as things are inserted, so only genuine additions and removals are listed.

Other recent meetings of this board