Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau Launches Website Tailored for African American Travelers

Raleigh, NC - The Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (GRCVB), the official destination marketing organization for Raleigh and Wake County, recently unveiled a new microsite on www.visitRaleigh.com highlighting African American Heritage and Travel. The site, which can be accessed from the GRCVB's homepage, serves as a comprehensive online destination for African American travelers visiting North Carolina's Capital City.

The dedicated microsite invites business and leisure travelers to explore our area's rich African American heritage and local history. Greater Raleigh is notably rich in African-American heritage and a local history that includes the South's oldest black university, the nation's first institute for blind African Americans, the first, four-year medical school for African Americans and even the foundations of 1960s nonviolent resistance to segregation.

The importance and the impact of the area's African-American business communities and heritage sites have long been felt here, but they hadn't been presented and promoted for visitor use so clearly until now," Freeze said.

The site helps convention planners and individual visitors to find information on African American owned businesses and services. Also included on the site are comprehensive listings of Wake County faith communities, attractions, restaurants and events which may be of special interest to African American visitors. There is also a dedicated section on the microsite's homepage that welcomes upcoming African American conferences, meeting and reunions.

The microsite was initiated by GRCVB and members of the GRCVB's Marketing Advisory Board focusing on African-American meetings and tourism. The group, comprised of Wake County business, community and education leaders, was created to have open dialogue on proactive ways to increase multicultural visitor and convention business to our area and how to enhance the experience of multicultural groups visiting later this year including: Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc, Triangle Black Pride 2010 and The Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

"We heard and responded to a need of our convention planners to have Greater Raleigh's African-American heritage attractions and visitor services collected all in one place," said Jonathan Freeze, GRCVB's director of marketing. "This would make their planning, site selection and vendor selection processes easier and maximize their attendees' experiences in the area."