The completion of the Destination Strategic Plan (DSP, the research and planning phase of the project) and the launch of Destination 2028 (the implementation phase) have made us at GRCVB more aware of the desire that we have as well as the need to keep our partners, stakeholders and elected officials “in the loop” about work that we do in pursuit of tourism to Raleigh/Wake County.

In future Tourism Talk blog posts, we’re hoping to tell the Wake County tourism story so well that you can know from one month to the next what GRCVB has done or is doing to further the cause of tourism development for our area.

With that in mind, we are going to begin sharing regular updates from president and CEO Dennis Edwards’ monthly reports to our Board of Directors. You may already know that our board meets monthly to oversee, advise and otherwise stay current on the work and activities of the Bureau.

Denny’s Sept. report to the board focused on the recent completion of the DSP and on how the Bureau and other organizations will start to move into the execution phase, Destination 2028.

Here are highlights from Denny’s Sept. report:

  • The Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) team will be in Wake County Sept. 24-26 to meet with representatives from most municipalities, discussing their individual town/city plans within the countywide DSP's recommendations.
  • JLL will also be meeting with some of the key stakeholder groups such as the GRSA Advisory Board, GRCVB Board of Directors, Centennial Authority board members and the Blue Ribbon Task Force.
  • GRCVB staff is currently reviewing the DSP recommendations to determine which organizations should be taking the lead and participating in implementation under each priority. In cases where it is the CVB, our staff will decide to whom it should be assigned internally or whether it will be necessary to assign to a new staff member.
  • We will also begin prioritizing the recommendations in terms of when to actively begin each step of the Destination 2028 implementation.

In addition to this information, you may be interested to know that the DSP report will be available by section at visitRaleigh.com/2028 on Oct. 1.

If you have questions or comments about the DSP or Destination 2028, please feel free to comment below.