Tourism Talk blog

The last 17 months have no doubt been unprecedented in their overall effect on the revenues, employment and economic performance in the hospitality sector. Contingency planning, recovery tactics and long-term resiliency are the objectives for the GRCVB and all our community partners. The old saying

We announced in the Tourism Talk blog on June 21 that there are several significant staff changes underway in the Destination Services Department here at the Bureau. As of July 31, 2021, Julie Brakenbury, CGSP ® , director of services since 2007, is taking her much-deserved retirement, while...

Once again... the announcement is bittersweet. GRCVB’s director of destination services Julie Brakenbury, CGSP ® , has announced her retirement. Just as with the retirement of Theresa Tyler in Dec. 2020, saying goodbye to these colleagues comes with mixed emotions; we’re happy for...

Earlier in 2021, we published a Tourism Talk blog post about the Greater Raleigh Esports Local Organizing Committee (GRELOC), an outgrowth of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance (GRSA) focusing on esports and supported by Subnation and GRCVB. You can read more about GRELOC and its mission here.

GRCVB has long been an active and accredited member of Destinations International, the industry association for professional destination marketing organizations (DMOs). The association purposes to "make members and their destinations successful. As the world's largest and most reliable...

Many GRCVB staff members volunteer on local boards and committees that support the work of tourism in Wake County. For example, Bureau president and CEO Dennis Edwards is a board member of the Triangle Trails Initiative. Read more here about the work of this group and their plans for the future.

The Greater Raleigh Esports Local Organizing Committee (GRELOC) is a diverse group of civic, sports and business leaders who support the growth of esports and gaming activities here. The group, which aligns to one market segment being pursued by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance (GRCVB's...

In addition to the public projects and initiatives that you see regularly reported as part of the work of GRCVB, there are a few that go on behind the scenes designed to make our efforts more effective. One of those revolves around community engagement. In 2018, we formed an internal Community

As we have reported in the past, the Greater Raleigh CVB received $1.25 million in CARES Act funds from Wake County on Aug. 11, 2020. The County agreement required the funds to be spent by Dec. 30, 2020, which meant we had a little over four months to create and execute a sales and marketing plan

We believe there are some people in our area whom every hospitality partner ought to know (or at least know about). And we're planning to introduce you to them in a series of Q&A interviews during 2021. The first is Eric Dorfman, Ph.D., director and CEO of the North Carolina Museum of...