Tourism Talk blog

Several members of the GRCVB team will again be traveling to Austin, Texas, from March 15–18, 2020, along with a team of economic development allies representing Wake County, to exhibit at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Trade Show. This will be the third year this group has...

Just in case you missed it (ICYMI), we're passing along this information that GRCVB shared with the media in recent weeks. The City of Raleigh has released a Request For Interest (RFI) about a new convention hotel on two pieces of real estate primed for development in downtown Raleigh. City of

The results are in, and Wake County hotels had a very strong 2019. Hotel occupancy ran 73.8%, up 5% over 2018; our occupancy rate outperformed the state average of 65.6% and the national average of 66.1%. The county average daily rate for the year finished at $109.22, up 2.5%, while rooms

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

It is easy to find things to look forward to when you live and work in a booming area like Wake County. We have a lot to anticipate in 2020, but let's start with these eight visitor-related developments. First up—a treasure trove of new culinary offerings... High-profile restaurants and...

Everybody loves a “Year in Review” list. Here are our picks for the top 10 highlights in Wake County tourism for 2019 (YMMV). 10] The opening of new, high-profile restaurants helmed by celebrity chefs Jolie Scott Crawford—a five-time James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best...

Last year I wrote about the philosophy behind developing festival/event tourism in our area and plugging data into a cycle of improvement that leads to more positive impacts from these events. This week I want to be more specific about how GRCVB can help area festival/event organizers who are

About this time every year, we all take time to give thanks for everything that we have been given. And about this time around the CVB, we take a moment to be grateful for visitors. In case you're wondering why, we can think of at least these 703 reasons. Reason Number 1: If you are reading...

As we speak about the impact tourism has on broader economic development for our region, that notion is no more evident than in our international tourism efforts. That said, in early October I spent a week overseas for a series of events in Paris and London in support of our nonstop flights to RDU

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...