Tourism Talk blog

We’re happy to announce that the 2019‒2020 edition of the Official Visitors Guide to Raleigh, Cary and Wake County has been provided to the printer. We expect the Visitors Guides to ship mid-May, and you should start seeing them by late May. Here are a few notes about this year's...

In past posts, we’ve covered visitor profile research and shared stats about Raleigh area visitors’ current makeup (studied biennially by GRCVB); we’ve also covered the economic significance of producing visitor-friendly festivals/events here and how economic impacts can be...

Last month, my report included updates about Wake County Hospitality Tax Review stakeholders meetings. Two additional meetings have taken place since then. On Feb. 28, 2019: Raleigh Convention Center presented the need for improvements at Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts and the

The story of Raleigh, N.C. , at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2019 is one of collaboration. We talk about Raleigh being “a city that prides itself on our collaborative spirit,” which I suspect many cities say about themselves, but not so many do. You might have seen tweets and Instagram...

You have heard and seen us talking about the second annual Wake County Hospitality Job Fair , which happened last Tues., March 5, 2019. Over 55 employers were on hand to talk with several hundred applicants about job opportunities at their businesses. We are sharing some photos from the Fair below,

In all likelihood, you have seen a story about Raleigh/Wake County floating around the last few days from The Washington Post, written by Melanie D.G. Kaplan. If you missed it, you can read it here . It’s a stellar piece and highlights many of the visitor attractions, museums , restaurants ,...

Often during election seasons, you will hear candidates and their advisers talk about staying "on message" ... that is, to not get distracted by tangential topics or issues that would take the focus from where it belongs—on that which is official and most important. During 2019,...

If you have been around GRCVB’s Marketing or Sales teams recently, you might have noticed that we have been using the theme Originally Raleigh for the last 10 months or so. Originally Raleigh describes the restaurants, attractions, products and events created by local makers and entrepreneurs...

In our “Putting People First” post, we introduced North Carolina State University’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management and People-First Tourism (P1t), Inc., the first tech-based social startup to spin off from N.C. State. The university’s spinoff and...

Back in 2015, GRCVB first expanded its promotion of signature experiences for visitors of all types, developing a Things to Do webpage that showcased a curated collection of personal tours and hands-on encounters in Raleigh/Wake County. All these experiences were suited for small groups (e.g.,