2009 FISCAL YEAR REVIEW YEAR IN REVIEW BY TIM NEWMAN >> 1 FY09 RESULTS; IMPACT OF TOURISM ON CHARLOTTE, >> 2 TRAVEL VOLUME AND OPERATIONS RESULTS FROM EACH CRVA FACILITY FY09 BUDGET OVERVIEW BY DIVISION >> 5 VISITOR DEMOGRAPHICS >> 6 VISITOR INFO CENTER >> 7 CHARLOTTE CONVENTION CENTER >> 10 SALES >> 11 CONVENTION SERVICES AND GROUP TOURISM >> 12 CULTURAL & HERITAGE TOURISM AND >> 13 PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TIME WARNER CABLE ARENA >> 14 BOJANGLES’COLISEUM AND OVENS AUDITORIUM >> 15 NASCAR HALL OF FAME >> 16 CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT >> 20 ADVERTISING PROGRAM MARKETING AND ADVERTISING >> 21 PUBLICATIONS >> 22 CHARLOTTESGOTALOT AND SOCIAL MEDIA >> 27 PUBLIC/MEDIA RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS >> 29 AWARDS AND ACCOLADES >> 31 CRVA MISSION >> 32 CRVA BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND >> 33 VISITORS ADVISORY COMMITTEE CRVA MANAGEMENT TEAM MEMBERS >> 34 Queen Charlotte 1990 Raymond Kaskey© FY 2009 - YEAR IN REVIEW >> SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY; WORLD CLASS CUSTOMER SERVICE What Goes Up, Must Come Down. Whether you know the In the coming year, we will see these investments start to classic tune or trade the stock market, this is a fact in open within the new Wells Fargo Cultural Campus including almost any business. And after two record years in a row, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority experienced a Culture opening in October 2009, the Bechtler Museum of downturn in fiscal year 2009 just like the rest of the Modern Art and the Knight Theater in January 2010, our economy. However, we mitigated the effects of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in May 2010, and the Mint Museum of economy by aggressive expense management and the Art in Center City opening in October 2010. All of these utilization of reserves as necessary so as not to stop amenities within one block of our Convention Center only producing our mission of Marketing our destination, add to what Charlotte will offer our visitors and guests. Managing our facilities in a first class manner and Maximizing economic impact for the travel and tourism Through good fiscal management and a sound strategic business in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. plan, we have made it through what I believe is the worst of this economic cycle, and we will continue to do all we can to The results from fiscal year 2009 are very strong despite achieve our vision of “Southern Hospitality, World Class the economy we faced. We booked 341,635 room nights Customer Service” as our entire team at the Charlotte for future years, and with the CIAA tournament rebooking Regional Visitors Authority is committed to that vision. which counted in fiscal year 2008’s record numbers removed, we actually booked more room nights this fiscal 1 year on a recurring basis. We saw great events like the Sincerely, American Bus Association Marketplace come to town in January which is already producing good bookings down the road, and most of our facilities all came in within our budget targets for the year, which is a tremendous accomplishment given the overall economy. A major objective in fiscal year 2009 was to diversify our destination from a reliance on business transient travel to a Tim Newman more stable combination of conventions and tradeshows, Chief Executive Officer amateur sports and leisure travel. Business travel as we knew it has changed forever, and “Charlotte’s got a lot” is the focus for us to grow these three areas of success for our destination for future years. We have built a great destination, and the good news is our booking pace is recognizing this! For fiscal year 2010 and beyond we have caught up to the bookings pace our outside analysts at Trend Analysis Projections suggest we need to be on, so the investments we have made in our destination are paying off. IMPACT OF TRAVEL & TOURISM >> 2008 ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TRAVEL - CHARLOTTE MSA EXPENDITURES % CHANGE PAYROLL EMPLOYMENT STATE TAX RECEIPTS LOCAL TAX RECEIPTS COUNTY ($ MILLIONS) 07/08 ($ MILLIONS) (THOUSANDS) ($ MILLIONS) ($ MILLIONS) Mecklenburg $3,638.74 5.6% $1,314.12 42.10 $168.71 $97.93 Cabarrus $288.91 4.9% $69.74 3.60 $16.31 $4.81 Gaston $186.28 -0.5% $31.03 1.69 $10.27 $3.30 Union $95.37 2.2% $15.83 0.89 $5.18 $1.83 Anson $14.72 3.1% $1.92 0.11 $0.82 $0.39 York, SC $159.39 0.3% $30.17 1.83 $9.89 $3.96 TOTAL MSA $4,383.41 3.4% $1,462.81 50.22 $211.18 $112.22 Sources: North Carolina Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development by the Travel Industry Association of America; South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism; prepared by the Travel Industry Association of America 2 CRVA FACILITIES YEAR IN REVIEW In fiscal year 2009, facilities operated by the Charlotte Despite the decreases in event volume and revenue, CRVA- Regional Visitors Authority (CRVA) saw success in spite of managed facilities did record some successes in fiscal year difficult economic conditions. 2009. Ovens Auditorium finalized plans to increase access to the venue for disabled patrons. The Bojangles’ Coliseum With the exception of Bojangles’ Coliseum, in fiscal year naming agreement and designation as a historic landmark 2009, event volume for Ovens Auditorium, the Charlotte demonstrated the 55-year-old venue’s viability and value as Convention Center, and Time Warner Cable Arena (TWCA) a sponsorship opportunity to the community. The Charlotte was down in comparison to fiscal year 2008. Event Convention Center completed plans for capital projects that downturns at TWCA were due to the departure of college will improve the Convention Center customer experience and basketball events hosted by the venue in the previous fiscal prepare the venue to partner with the NASCAR Hall of Fame year. Both Ovens Auditorium and the Charlotte Convention in 2010. CRVA staff assigned to Time Warner Cable Arena Center could trace their losses in event volume to the effect again performed their duties at a cost less than the budget of the economy on not-for-profit organizations. With negotiated with the Charlotte Bobcats organization. And, reductions in ticket sales and sponsorships, many not-for- the latest addition to the CRVA facility inventory, the NASCAR profit organizations in the Charlotte market cancelled events Hall of Fame parking deck, was successfully opened in the booked into both venues. Event volume at Bojangles’ past year, as well. Coliseum ran counter to this trend. With the addition of the Carolina Speed as a tenant in the venue, event volume Most importantly, all CRVA-managed venues continued to exceeded fiscal year 2008 levels. exceed customer expectations in fiscal year 2009. Customer satisfaction ratings exceeded targeted goals for 3 The reduction in event volume resulted in a reduction in the fiscal year, indicating the delivery of a venue experience operating revenues. While proactive steps were taken to that met or exceeded expectations. In this difficult economic decrease operating expenses, the cost of operating all environment, all CRVA facility management employees are to CRVA-managed facilities increased in fiscal year 2009. be congratulated for this accomplishment. >> CRVA PERFORMANCE - FISCAL YEAR 2009 ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS GOAL RESULT CRVA GLOBAL Improve Fund Balance by $500,000 $500,000 Finish FY09 with Revenues above $33 million $31.3 million Lead Charlotte area hotel community toward 4% increase in room revenue -15% Improve Convention Center occupancy > Book 20 million occupied GSF Convention/Tradeshow space for FY10 5 million GSF > Book 24 million occupied GSF Convention/Tradeshow space for FY11 16 million GSF > Book 15 million occupied GSF Convention/Tradeshow space for FY12 6 million GSF > Book 10 million occupied GSF “Other Event” space for FY10 4 million GSF CHARLOTTE CONVENTION CENTER Finish FY09 with Revenues above $10 million $8.8 million Finish FY09 at 10% below budgeted CCC operating deficit or $3.5 million, whichever is less. $4 million VISIT CHARLOTTE Finish FY09 with Revenues above $11 million $11.1 million 4 Finish FY09 with sufficient definite room nights booked to support Convention Center 167,000 Center Room occupancy GSF numbers Nights TIME WARNER CABLE ARENA Finish Bobcats Fiscal Year (9/30/08) with net operating surplus of $100,000 or higher. Met Improve Bobcats satisfaction with CRVA operations and produce highest quality service at least possible costs. Met BOJANGLES’ COLISEUM Finish FY09 with an operating deficit that is no greater than 60% of the deficit subsidy available to Bojangles’ $553,000 actual deficit Coliseum and Ovens Auditorium. Invest the remaining balance of the subsidy in capital improvement projects. vs. $338,000 deficit goal Develop a creative program of activity that makes Bojangles’ and Ovens a known player in East Charlotte activity. Met OVENS AUDITORIUM Finish FY09 with an operating deficit that is no greater than 60% of the deficit subsidy available to Bojangles’ $553,000 actual deficit Coliseum and Ovens Auditorium. Invest the remaining balance of the subsidy in capital improvement projects. vs. $338,000 deficit goal Develop a creative program of activity that makes Bojangles’ and Ovens a known player in East Charlotte activity. Met NASCAR HALL OF FAME Finish FY09 with Sponsorship Sales 50% sold Not Met Finish FY09 with Brick Paver Sales of $4 million Not Met Finish FY09 within budget $1.2 million in expenses vs. budget of $2.2 million Meet established timeline goals Met (for Fiscal Year 2009) CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ADVERTISING Finish FY09 with gross sales of $2.5 to $3 million yielding gross revenues of $125,000 to $150,000 $2.5 million FY2009 BUDGET OVERVIEW The CRVA adopted an annual budget for the fiscal year The fund balance is projected to increase from $4 July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009.