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Greater Raleigh Tourism e-News

Welcome to the Greater Raleigh Tourism e-News … presented by the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (GRCVB). Please let us know about any news pertaining to Wake County's billion dollar visitor industry for possible inclusion in future issues.

IN VOLUME 2, ISSUE 7:
Hey Hey Hey Ral-eigh
Readers' Choice Award
Building the Buzz
Red Carpet Treatment
ALLTEL's Accolades
New Look 2006 Visitors Guide Arrives
2006 Cooperative Marketing Opportunities
Sales/Sports News
Assisted Bureau Bookings in November
Events Through Next Month

Hey Hey Hey Ral-eigh
The CVB sales team joined forces with the Raleigh Convention Center staff at the recent Association Executives of North Carolina trade show in Durham. Besides its success prospecting for future business to benefit the new center and all Wake County meeting facilities, the group was awarded third in the best booth competition. However, the judging took place prior to the arrival of the 35th anniversary Harley Davidson motorcycle from Ray Price shown here along with (clockwise from center): Doug Grissom, Loren Gold, Mara Smith, Michelle Boyette, Loretta Yingling and Kathleen Murphy.

Readers' Choice Award
ConventionSouth Magazine released the results of its 2006 Readers' Choice Awards and North Carolina had the second-highest number of winners in the Southern states with the Greater Raleigh CVB among the recipients yet again. Earlier this year, ConventionSouth asked its more than 18,500 readers to nominate those convention & visitors bureaus (CVBs), convention centers, hotels, resorts and other meeting sites that they felt display exemplary creativity and professionalism.

Building the Buzz
Dr. Larry Wheeler of the North Carolina Museum of Art joined the Bureau's Martin Armes and Shawn Braden for a recent New York media blitz which included individual appointments and a media reception attended by 26 journalists representing a who's who of top titles. Future editorial is being developed about the upcoming Monet exhibition, new convention center and upscale hotel construction, downtown renaissance, emerging culinary scene and other topics supporting the area's emergence into a more viable visitor destination. Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, Budget Living, Conde Nast Traveler, Forbes FYI, Good Housekeeping, Museums, New York Daily News, Passport Magazine, Successful Meetings, Town & Country and Wall Street Journal were among those receiving the Greater Raleigh message. Pictured (left to right): Braden, Karyl Leigh Barnes of PR firm DCI and Armes.

Red Carpet Treatment
The Bureau hosted 11 North Carolina Welcome Center managers on a familiarization tour highlighting new museum exhibitions, IMAX Theatre, downtown renovations and retail/restaurants in North Hills. Five Canadian journalists also visited Raleigh, as did the state's international public relations representatives from Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. The Canadians were on assignment for Fifty-Plus, Hamilton Spectator, Montreal Gazette, The Montrealer, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun and Touring, while the international reps were exposed to a slew of story ideas to help pitch to various publications in their respective countries.

ALLTEL'S Accolades
ALLTEL Pavilion at Walnut Creek once again took top honors and was ranked 12th in the nation among Top 100 Amphitheatres for the third quarter, according to Pollstar Magazine. Finishing its 15th Anniversary season with 29 concerts and 6 sellouts, ALLTEL's combined attendance of 362,845 with an average attendance of 12,512 fans per show continued an upward trend for average concert attendance.

It also took home top honors in a national fan survey of over 100,000 attendees at 35 large amphitheatres over 12,500 in capacity including Overall Large Amphitheater in the Country, Staff and Customer Service, Food and Beverage Operation, Lawn Seat Experience and Reserved Seat Experience.

New Look 2006 Visitors Guide Arrives
Befitting all the product improvements throughout the area with new openings, renovations and construction, the GRCVB followed suit by rolling out an entirely new concept with its 2006 Visitors Guide to Raleigh and Wake County. In partnership with Our State Custom Publishing, the 64-page traditional magazine size publication is four color from cover to cover. It features expanded coverage of area attractions, accommodations, dining, shopping, sports and recreation and includes three enhanced maps.

For more information about this publication, please contact the Bureau's director of communications and marketing, Martin Armes at 919-645-2654 or marmes@visitraleigh.com.

2006 Destination and Cooperative Marketing Opportunities
There are many ways to leverage CVB programs and assist your business goals through the area's billion dollar visitor industry. Many beneficial cooperative partnerships have been developed that offer ways to join forces with CVB campaigns via online, magazine and guidebook advertising with participation rates starting from $250. The Bureau has been able to negotiate unprecedented affordable rates in Southern Living and Our State Magazine, not to mention six online endeavors and four new opportunities to advertise on VisitRaleigh.com.

For more information about these co-op marketing opportunities, please contact the Bureau's director of partnership and tourism marketing, Shawn Braden at 919-645-2663 or sbraden@visitraleigh.com.

Sales/Sports News
The sales staff submitted formal proposals for almost $1.5 million of future business (2010 American Baptist Convention). It hosted a site inspection for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and conducted outside sales calls with the likes of American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers, International Fresh-Cut Produce Association, Lions International, National Defense Industrial Association, National Society of Professional Engineers, National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, N.C. Community College System and N.C. Preservation Society.

Meanwhile, the sports squad hosted a site visit by Senior Softball USA, as part of an ongoing effort to bring the 2007 Eastern Nationals to Raleigh. It also attended the TEAMS sports marketing conference and met with event rights-holders and owners from throughout the nation.

Assisted Bureau Bookings in November