About Discover Durham

We’ve been defying definition for over 30 years.

We’re here to help people Discover Durham — but our mission runs deeper than acting as welcoming hosts. Last year, visitors spent more than $1 billion in Durham.

That $1 billion helps support locally owned businesses in the community, creates hospitality jobs and generates tax dollars used by local government to support resident needs in Durham County.

Telling Durham's Story to Attract Visitors

You could call us Durham’s marketing agency, but we’re much more than that. Discover Durham is a leader in the marketing and development of Durham as a world-renowned leisure, business and sports destination by attracting and serving visitors for the transformational economic and social benefit of those who live and work here.

We’re proud to welcome visitors to our remarkable destination while remaining accountable to those who make Durham the wonderful destination it is.

We take the responsibility seriously.

Durham Sports Commission

Discover Durham expanded in 2016 to establish an organization dedicated to harnessing Durham’s championship-caliber pride and putting it on the map as a premiere sports destination. The Durham Sports Commission (DSC) is a 501(c)(3) whose mission is to create economic and social impact by leading the community’s efforts to attract, support, and promote youth, amateur, collegiate and professional sporting and recreational events.

Since its inception, the DSC has worked alongside community partners to support over 270 events, collectively contributing more than $115M to Durham’s local economy and continues to work within the community to provide grants to support youth sports development opportunities.

Durham's Destination Master Plan

In more recent years, Durham has easily become one of the fastest growing regions in the country, prompting Discover Durham, and many other local leaders, to begin having conversations about ways to prepare for the projected growth, while preserving the history, culture, vibrancy and opportunities that make Durham, Durham.

In response, Discover Durham led the development of the Destination Master Plan (DMP), an assessment of Durham’s development needs over the next 20 years, based on a vision for Durham’s future collectively shaped by members of the community. The plan offers 60+ initiatives aimed at making Durham the most welcoming, inclusive, innovative and vibrant destination in the United States by 2044, while thoughtfully honoring its history and people.

Durham Next

In 2024, Discover Durham launched Durham Next, a 501(c)(3) community partnership for the sustainable advancement of Durham as the best place to live, work and visit, to oversee the implementation of the DMP initiatives and support adjacent work happening in the community.

Discover Durham is committed to honoring Durham’s histories to help shape Durham’s future. We’re the unapologetic, passionate advocates of all Durham has to offer. We tell Durham’s story in a way that, not only attracts visitors - leisure visitors; business travelers; people attending meetings, conventions, festivals and sporting events – but instills pride in the community that lives it.

At the heart of it all, we’re rooted in and rooting for our community. It’s a community we’re proud to help you discover.