Privacy Policy

Acceptance of the Privacy Policy and Changes to the Privacy Policy

The Outer Banks Visitors Bureau ("Organization" or "We") respects your privacy, and we are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this privacy policy ("Privacy Policy"). When you register or otherwise provide the Organization with your information, you opt-in, i.e., agree, to the Organization's use of the information as provided below, including to receive communications from the Organization, but you may opt-out as provided below.

This Privacy Policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the websites at www.OuterBanks.org (collectively, the "Website") and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.

This Privacy Policy applies to information we collect:

• On this Website.
• In e-mail, text and other electronic messages between you and this Website.

It does not apply to information collected by:

• the Organization offline, through social media platforms, or through any other means, including on any other website operated by Organization or any third party, including our affiliates and subsidiaries; or
• any third party, including our affiliates and subsidiaries, including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or on the Website.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. By accessing or using the Website, you acknowledge that you have read and understand the Privacy Policy and accept and agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, you must not access or use the Website.

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately once posted, and apply to all access to and use of the Website thereafter. Your continued use of the Website following the posting of the changed Privacy Policy means that you accept and agree to the changes. You are expected to check this Privacy Policy when you access this Website so you are aware of any changes, as they are binding on you. However, if we make material changes to how we treat our users' personal information, we may notify you by e-mail to any active and deliverable e-mail address that you have provided to the Organization and/or through a notice on the Website home page. The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page.

Children Under the Age of 13

Our Website is not intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any information to or on the Website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not (a) use or provide any information on this Website or on or through any of its features, (b) register on the Website, (c) make any purchases through the Website, (d) use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Website or (e) provide any information about yourself to the Organization, including your name, address, telephone number or e-mail address. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact the Organization as provided below.

Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

We collect several types of information from and about users of our Website, including information:

• by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number or any other information the Website collects that is defined as personal or personally identifiable information under an applicable law ("personal information");
• that is about you but individually does not identify you; and/or
• about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website and usage details.

We collect this information:

• Directly from you when you provide it to the Organization.
• Automatically as you navigate through the site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses and information collected through cookies, web beacons and other tracking technologies.
• From third parties, for example, our business partners.

Information You Provide to the Organization

The information we collect on or through our Website may include:

• Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website. This includes information provided at the time of registering to use our Website, subscribing to our service, posting material or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you enter a contest or promotion sponsored by the Organization, and when you report a problem with our Website.
• Records and copies of your correspondence (including e-mail addresses), if you contact the Organization.
• Details of transactions you carry out through our Website and of the fulfillment of your orders. You may be required to provide financial information before placing an order through our Website.
• Your search queries on the Website.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies

We may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns, including:

• Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website.
• Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system and browser type.
• About your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking).

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

• Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.
• Web Beacons. Pages of our Website and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs. pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Organization, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an e-mail and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity)

Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website are served by third parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers and application providers. These third parties may use cookies, alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies, to collect information about you when you use our website. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content. We do not control these third parties' tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.

How We Use Your Information

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to the Organization, including any personal information:

• To present our Website and its contents to you.
• To provide you with information, products or services that you request from the Organization.
• To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
• To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and the Organization, including for billing and collection.
• To notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
• To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Website.
• In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
• For any other purpose with your consent.

We may also use your information to contact you about our own and third-parties' goods and services that may be of interest to you. If you do not want the Organization to use your information in this way, you can opt-out by sending the Organization an e-mail stating your request, as provided below.

We may use the information we have collected from you to enable the Organization to display advertisements to our advertisers' target audiences. Even though we do not disclose your personal information for these purposes without your consent, if you click on or otherwise interact with an advertisement, the advertiser may assume that you meet its target criteria.

Specifically, we use Google Analytics to measure and monitor usage trends of the OuterBanks.org website. We also use data from Google's Interest-based advertising or third-party audience data (such as age, gender and interests) with Google Analytics in order to periodically evaluate whether the content on the Website is well-matched to audiences actually using our Website and how to tailor and improve said content to appropriate user audiences if it can be improved through content changes and updates.

The Website uses the Google AdWords remarketing service to advertise on third-party websites (including Google) to previous visitors to our site. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who have not completed a task on our site or who have visited key pages, for example, requesting a Visitors Guide. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page or on a site in the Google Display Network. We monitor how effective our advertisements are at inspiring you to visit The Outer Banks of North Carolina, via use of cookies by third-party vendors, including Google, to serve ads based on users' past visits to the Website, or interactions with our advertisements.

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this Privacy Policy:

• To our subsidiaries and affiliates.
• To contractors, service providers and other third parties we use to support our business.
• To third parties to market their products or services to you if you specifically opt-in to such use.
• To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.
• For any other purpose disclosed by the Organization when you provide the information.
• With your consent.

We may also disclose your personal information:

• To comply with any court order, law or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
• To enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other applicable terms or agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.
• If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property or safety of the Organization, our customers or others.

Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to the Organization. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:

• Tracking Technologies and Advertising. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
• Disclosure of Your Information for Third-Party Advertising. If you do not want the Organization to share your personal information with unaffiliated or non-agent third parties for promotional purposes, you can opt-out by sending the Organization an e-mail stating your request to information@outerbanks.org.
• Promotional Offers from the Organization. If you do not want to have your contact information used by the Organization to promote our own or third parties' products or services, you can opt-out by sending the Organization an e-mail stating your request to information@outerbanks.org. If we have sent you a promotional e-mail, you may send the Organization a return e-mail asking to be omitted from future e-mail distributions. This opt out does not apply to information provided to the Organization as a result of a product purchase, product service experience or other transactions.
• Targeted Advertising. If you do not want the Organization to use information that we collect or that you provide to the Organization to deliver advertisements according to our advertisers' target-audience preferences, you can opt-out by sending the Organization an e-mail stating your request to information@outerbanks.org.
• Third Parties. We do not control third parties' collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However, these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can opt-out of Google's use of cookies by visiting Google's Ads Settings.

Accessing and Correcting Your Information

For certain users, you can review and change your personal information by logging into the Website and visiting your account detail page.

You may also send the Organization an e-mail at information@outerbanks.org, or mail or call to the contact information below to request access to, correct or delete any personal information that you have provided to the Organization. We cannot delete your personal information except by also deleting your user account. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.

Contact Information

All comments, questions, feedback, information requests regarding the Privacy Policy or Terms and Conditions of Use should be directed to: information@outerbanks.org.

Alternatively, you may contact the Organization at:

The Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
One Visitors Center Circle
Manteo, NC 27954

Or by phone at:

252-473-2138