Mission & Objectives

Purpose

The Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau (DCVB) is a local tourism development authority chartered by state and local government in cooperation with the private sector to attract and serve visitors to the City and County of Durham by reinvesting a portion of the visitor-paid “room occupancy and tourism development tax” in promotion and marketing.

Major Goal

To fuel the local business climate and broaden the local tax base by attracting and serving visitors as a means of bringing money into the community, generating personal income, jobs, and tax revenue by marketing and ensuring Durham as a destination.

Vision

DCVB is the heart, soul, and energy of Durham as a visitor destination. It’s the defender of Durham’s image and brand and guardian of its unique sense of place. It drives economic success, enhances quality of life, and generates tax revenues to fund local governments. The community values these contributions.

Excerpts from Charter Legislation

General Assembly Session Laws 1985-969, 1991-665, 2001-480, 2002-36
…The Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau, created on January 17, 1989 in an interlocal agreement between Durham County and the City of Durham to meet provisions of Chapter 969 of the 1985 Session Laws, shall act as a tourism development authority, which is a public authority under the Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act.
…The Bureau may use the funds remitted to it under this subsection only to promote travel, tourism, and conventions in Durham County.
…Definitions:…“Promote travel, tourism, and conventions” means to advertise or market an area or activity, to publish and distribute pamphlets and other materials, to conduct market research, and to engage in similar promotional activities that attract tourists, business travelers, or conventioneers to the area, and also includes administrative expenses incurred in engaging in these activities.

Objectives

  1. Providing a vehicle to merge resources from private business, government agencies, nonprofit organizations and individuals into a cohesive, community-wide effort to market Durham as a visitor destination.
  2. Generating positive awareness of Durham as a destination for pleasure and business visitors.
  3. Stimulating interest and desire in groups and individuals to visit Durham.
  4. Increasing the extent and length of stay of visitors to Durham.
  5. Developing market research and target descriptions of existing and prospective visitors to guide and measure DCVB marketing activities and the Durham visitor sector.
  6. Providing a liaison between visitors and the facilities, services, events, activities, agencies and organizations that serve and satisfy them.
  7. Generating positive community awareness of Durham visitors and providing opportunities for community support and participation.

DCVB's Strategic Direction

  1. Achieve and maintain funding that will permit Durham to be competitive with comparable communities for its market share of conventions, visitors and taxable visitor spending.
  2. Sell Durham on Durham by promoting community awareness and pride among residents, non-resident workers and the visitor sector.
  3. Practice “ready, aim, fire” marketing with information and research-based tactics and decisions. Be market-driven.
  4. Look after the community's long-term interests and development as a visitor destination while individual businesses look after the short term. Provide for what's above the line while the private sector focuses on the bottom line.
  5. Conduct collective and cooperative visitor marketing that will leverage Durham efforts with local, regional, national and international promotions.
  6. Position Durham as synonymous with service with better literature, more aware frontline staff and better ways to create visitor satisfaction.
  7. Balance attracting visitors with establishing linkage that will get them to do more, stay longer, come again and tell other people.
  8. Make it easy to get Durham visitor information by maintaining complete inventories, encouraging good signs, creating a sense of collective place.
  9. Facilitate equal opportunity/representation for Durham residents and businesses at the sales, marketing, management and ownership of the inbound Durham visitor sector.
  10. Package the collective assets of the City and County of Durham and all businesses and organizations therein, including Research Triangle Park as a public/private partnership to generate visitor benefits for the community.