Domestic visitors spent over $184 million when they came to Orange County last year, according to statistics from the “Economic Impact of Travel on North Carolina Counties 2015,” a study by the U.S. Travel Association.

“They’re coming to visit the University of North Carolina,” said Patty Griffin, Communications Director for the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau. “They’re coming for education and healthcare, travel-related conferences, state association meetings being held here.”

Griffin said visitor spending is at an all-time high, up 1.5% from 2014. Although the percentage doesn’t seem high, she said it equates to over $1,300 spent per Orange County resident.

“We get people daily it seems like in our visitor’s center,” she said. “People relocating to the area, retiring to the area, so when they move, their friends and family come and visit them.”

And when friends and family do come to visit, they spend.

So far, Griffin said it’s unclear whether visitors will keep spending as much into next year, or whether 2016’s report will be affected by legislation such as House Bill 2.

“We anticipate that it will be impacted,” she said. “But right now we’ll just plug forward and promote all the wonderful things there are to do and see in Orange County.”

For now, she said she and the rest of the Visitors Bureau can tell that people are seeing all the things to do in Orange County.

“We’re certainly pleased that travel to our area has a positive impact—economic impact,” Griffin said. “It’s important to the economy of Orange County.”

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