Tourism Talk blog

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...

Every chance we get, we try to “beat the drum” — tourism is a $2.4 billion business in Wake County, making it one of the county’s top income and employment generators. And as such, it should be considered with the import and significance it deserves. At the CVB, we take...

For years we’ve branded the “smarts” of Raleigh and Wake County. From our talented residents and authentic experiences to our innovative companies and a world-class concentration of universities and colleges, we make a pretty strong case for declaring ourselves a thriving...

Happy New Year! Like a lot of you, we’re back at our at desks today after a holiday break that we hope was as restful and rejuvenating for you as it was for us. We’re ready to hit the ground running in 2018, and after a 2017 which presented some interesting challenges (as each year...

We all have our list of go-to places where we take visitors from out of town. Whether it's taking our guests to the Nature Research Center at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, showing off the latest restaurants and things to do in downtown Raleigh, spending an afternoon scaling...

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

Since we may be feeling some effects of Hurricane Irma on this Sept. 11, we thought we would mention a couple of key points about communication during a crisis in Wake County, specifically as it relates to visitors.* 1. If an emergency situation occurs in Wake County that has the potential to

In last week’s Tourism Talk post, we provided some background related to the Bureau’s 13-month Destination Strategic Plan project with tourism consulting firm JLL and told you about the baseline research that was conducted through Destination International’s DestinationNEXT...

By now, we're hoping all of our hospitality partners in Wake County are aware of our Destination Brand Promise: Visitors to Raleigh will depart feeling enriched by what they have experienced in this Southern capital city, thanks to Raleigh's smart and passionate residents who are shaping...