GRCVB is more than just visitRaleigh.com. Sure, we list Raleigh/Wake County business partners on our website and have one of the most visited calendars of events in the area, but we offer a myriad of resources for partners to better align with us in engaging our external client/visitor markets throughout the year. Each hospitality partner in Wake County can access our Partner Information eXchange Login (PIXL), a handy calendar of all major groups that are booked to arrive through 2029 and regularly updated charts tracking visitor-sector trends. And that's just the start.

Last week, we published our 2026-2027 Business Plan, the board-approved blueprint the Bureau uses as we look to the next fiscal year (July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027) for project implementation and goal-setting.

Each department within the Bureau submits objectives and detailed strategies for the upcoming year. Additionally, the Business Plan includes the latest available visitor profile data and outlines hospitality industry performance trends over the past 10 years. This document gives partners and stakeholders a timely and concise overview of all our tourism development activities for Wake County.

You might also note that many of each department's strategies are tied directly to 10-year implementation of Wake County's Destination Strategic Plan. We're proud that, despite everything the pandemic threw at us all, implementation has continued to accelerate (especially now with major capital projects underway which the plan called for), and we're still on track countywide to make overall goals for 2028.

Here's another way to utilize the Business Plan in relation to your sales and marketing goals. The sections on the Marketing & Communications Department and the Public Relations & International Tourism Department outline the destination's strategic marketing mix for the upcoming year. This includes targeting various visitor segments such as domestic leisure, international leisure, meetings/conventions and sports events. We recommend reviewing these sections (and others) to see how your goals can align with those of the Bureau.

As we'll discuss with partners attending this week's Tourism Talk Live, you may find opportunities to coordinate your advertising or promotional strategies with GRCVB’s efforts, allowing you to maximize your marketing investments and effectively reach more guests or new clients in 2026-2027.

The Business Plan helps us make sure we have a clear map for the road ahead and helps us annually align all the departments of the Bureau working together to achieve the GRCVB mission. It might very well be a way for you to bolster your planning approach as well.