Welcome...to
the August issue of Pulse, the official newsletter of the Greater
Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. If you have questions, or would
like to be included in the September edition of Pulse, please
contact Ryan Smith at rsmith@visitRaleigh.com
In this issue...
Plan to Attend | Get Off Your County Seat | Three-Day Wait Period | Taxi Regulations
| Potpourri | Videos, Blogs and Twitter…oh, my | 18 Holes of Green
Plan
to Attend
The Bureau’s 22nd Annual Meeting will
be held Thursday, September 10, at the Raleigh Convention Center. This
year’s program features two sets of strategy sessions (free to attend)
prior to the luncheon, with topics relating to Sports Marketing and
Convention Sales, Group Services, Marketing and Communications. Strategy
sessions begin at 10am, they repeat at 11am, and the luncheon itself
starts at noon. For more information or to reserve your seat, contact
Linda Bonine at 645-2662 or go to visitRaleigh.com/luncheon.
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Get
Off Your County Seat
The Bureau and American Express invite North
Carolina residents to “Get Off Your County Seat” and visit Raleigh,
kicking off a year-long sweepstakes that will reward 100 winners, one
from each of North Carolina’s 100 counties, with a personalized weekend
getaway to the Raleigh area. The sweepstakes is promoted on www.mycountyseat.com
and www.visitRaleigh.com and will be complemented with social media,
search engine marketing and an online marketing campaign. Additionally,
residents can follow us on www.twitter.com/visitraleigh.
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Three-Day
Wait Period
The Bureau in partnership with various tourism entities from around North Carolina successfully lobbied the North Carolina Senate and House of Representatives to overturn the three-day wait period for new members of private clubs. Previously state liquor laws required bars and clubs to operate as private membership establishments unless at least 30% of sales came from food. The passing of the new legislation, H-1228, eliminates the previously mandated waiting period, opening the doors for short-stay visitors to enter as club members.
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Taxi
Regulations
The Bureau continues to work with the Raleigh Police Department to change and add language to the current Taxi License Requirements/Regulations. The revisions are designed to improve customer service, set appearance standards, as well as encourage driver and customer safety. The proposed ordinance revisions also mandate background checks on owners and operators prior to a permit being issued.
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Potpourri
Congratulations to the Raleigh Marriott
City Center, which for the second half of 2008 was ranked 36th
out of 333 full-service Marriotts for customer satisfaction! Raleigh
City Council approved partial funding of the downtown Raleigh
amphitheatre, located across from the Shimmer Wall of the Raleigh
Convention Center. The amphitheatre is scheduled to open Spring/Summer
2010. Visitors have a month to see their favorite indoor works of art
before the North Carolina Museum of Art building temporarily
closes beginning Monday, September 7, for approximately seven months.
The grand opening of the Museum expansion, a new 127,000-square-foot
gallery building for the permanent collection, is scheduled for mid-April
2010. Outdoor spaces will remain open.
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Videos,
Blogs and Twitter…oh, my
Viral videos, blogs, Facebook marketing and Twitter-ing
are all popular social media initiatives that the Bureau has been working
on to showcase the Raleigh area as a dynamic destination. The Bureau’s
blog aimed at leisure visitors debuted at blog.visitraleigh.com.
With postings each week, the Bureau will share destination news and
visit ideas; locals and potential visitors alike can follow along at
the blog page or via RSS. In partnership with Raleigh-based Triangle
Blvd, the Bureau will create more than 70 clips throughout the year,
sharing them with visitors on video.visitraleigh.com
and on other video-enabled sites. The Bureau also encourages local partners
to link to the Greater Raleigh videos of interest to their customers
and consider creating a video clip about their own establishments.
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18
Holes of Green
The Lonnie Poole Golf Course, an 18-hole, 7,358-yard, par 71 Arnold Palmer-designed course is now open at N.C. State University’s Centennial Campus. The course, which is home to the school’s men’s and women’s golf teams, is more than a place for sport. N.C. State is using the course for studies, too. Environmentally sustainable design and practices were used in creating the course, and students will use the Audubon-certified greens for classes. The first tournament was The V Foundation’s Golf Classic for Cancer Research.
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