Tourism Talk blog

Raleigh, N.C., has seen exponential growth in its beer scene over the past decade, and with the recent signing of House Bill 363, the Craft Beer Distribution and Modernization Act, Wake County and North Carolina breweries are poised to grow even more with their sales. From a visitation standpoint,

I’m taking the opportunity today to brag about a couple of my coworkers, specifically senior marketing manager Derek Allman, CHIA, and content marketing manager Michael Robson. I consider them to be Internet marketing wunderkinds, being in the early phases of their careers but having great...

In our world of planning for meetings, conventions and events, hardly a week goes by that we don’t read another article on event security, attendee safety, active-shooter training and more. It’s a hard reality, too, that some weeks carry the news of yet another terrible incident....

If you were at the Strategy Session before GRCVB's Annual Meeting in August, you heard from Joe Milazzo. If you weren't, here's a summary of Joe's remarks about transportation in and around Wake County. The fast-growing Research Triangle Region is also "America's most...

In our “Putting People First” post, we introduced North Carolina State University’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management and People-First Tourism (P1t), Inc., the first tech-based social startup to spin off from N.C. State. The university’s spinoff and...

In follow-up to past posts featuring GRCVB’s tourism research, let’s delve even more into the makeup of the average visitor to Raleigh/Wake County. Today’s stats give us insights into how we can optimize promotions to the area’s overnight visitors, including cooperative...

GRCVB's director of services Julie Brakenbury, CGSP®, has a heart for making sure that visitors to Raleigh and Wake County have full access to all of our attractions, assets and services. Here she answers three important questions about this issue. From your standpoint as director of...

In late Sept., amid some simple tips for using GRCVB’s 2017-2018 Business Plan as a business planning resource, I suggested that our area hospitality businesses compare and contrast their average customers with the average visitor to Raleigh and Wake County. Doing this allows us to look for...

The business plan, or marketing plan updated annually, is a fundamental in most industries, and hospitality-sector businesses and organizations can use this long-range planning tool to guide their paths to year-over-year success even if their year-end outcomes are not strictly financial (as in the

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Tourism Talk blog. This new blog is intended for the Wake County hospitality community, business and corporate supporters, local residents, local governments and elected officials and will focus on the business of tourism in our area. In next week's blog