Tourism Talk blog

As 2019 came to end, GRCVB renewed its accreditation with the CVB industry association, Washington, D.C.-based Destinations International. GRCVB has represented the Raleigh area as a destination since 1986 and first achieved global accreditation through the Destination Marketing Accreditation

Quarterly report released GRCVB released its 2019 third-quarter industry report, and all indicators confirm that tourism is doing extremely well in Wake County. Hotel occupancy in the county is up 6.3%, running at 74.6% through Sept. year-to-date (YTD). Lodging tax collections are up 11.3% and

I am pleased to inform you that the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the Raleigh City Council approved the following last week related to Interlocal Fund distributions: 1. A stadium feasibility study JLL (the same organization which conducted GRCVB's Destination Strategic Plan project...

Because of the 2019 Annual Meeting and previous Tourism Talk blog posts, you may already know that one of the key talking points for GRCVB this year is the value of tourism. Why does tourism matter and what difference does it make in the local economy, to the vibrancy of our area and to each of us

After 11 months of a comprehensive and transparent process, the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the Raleigh City Council approved future distribution of the Interlocal Fund, which is a combination of the county’s lodging and prepared food and beverage tax revenues. The approved...

Once a year or so, I overhear someone say that the Raleigh area doesn't have a brand. Having been project manager for development of the Raleigh, N.C., Destination Brand Strategy in 2014-2015, however, I know that we have at least one brand platform countywide! The problem is that we...

The 2019 GRCVB Annual Meeting, “Why Tourism Matters,” is in the books. Here are some scenes from our favorite day of the year. The theme What we hoped our guests would take away from this event was summarized in the theme—Why Tourism Matters—specifically how visitors and...

The Wake County Destination Strategic Plan (DSP) is garnering international attention. The Destinations International Annual Convention is happening this week in St. Louis, where over 1,400 representatives from convention and visitors bureaus from around the world will be attending. I have been

Invitations for the 2019 GRCVB Annual Meeting are in the mail queue (both snail mail and email). If you haven’t gotten yours already, be watching for it to appear in the next few days. We love Annual Meeting season around here because it’s our chance to show area hospitality partners,...

Hospitality tax stakeholders City and County leaders hosted a hospitality tax stakeholders meeting at Marbles Kids Museum on June 19. I would like to congratulate the County Manager and Raleigh City Manager and their staffs on developing the proposal and for the transparency of the process. I