Tourism Talk blog

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...

Start tuning up those banjos and dust off your boots—IBMA World of Bluegrass is coming back! We’re excited to announce that the International Bluegrass Music Association and local planning team are working on a full schedule of festival events, along with a few virtual additions and...

After months of preparation, we’re excited today to share with you Visit Raleigh Studio, a project we have been working on during the pandemic (and before). Visit Raleigh Studio is a curated collection of digital assets (video footage, including from aerial drones at over 75 new locations),

The year 2020 was an extremely challenging and difficult time for the leisure and hospitality industry. However, as vaccines continue to be developed and distributed, we believe consumer confidence regarding travel once again will begin to rebound. There are indicators that Wake County tourism will

About this time every year (at least for the last three years), we have published a “Reasons to be Thankful for Visitors” Tourism Talk blog. (It is the season, after all.) In 2019, we noted 700+ reasons to be grateful for visitors and what they bring to Wake County. Within that number...

One of the important responsibilities that GRCVB bears for Wake County is the collection and constant monitoring of tourism-related statistics. As you can imagine during the past year, we have seen some jubilant highs and jarring lows as tourism numbers, across the board, have been reported. As is

GRCVB, just like many organizations throughout Wake County, has learned to evolve and discover how best to sustain its core mission in the ever-changing landscape of 2020. Many plans disrupted this year required fresh creativity and a willingness to pivot to make them work. That went doubly so for

Last week you heard from the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance on how that team at GRCVB has been working hard during the COVID crisis. This week you are hearing from the Marketing and Communications Department and its director, Jonathan Freeze, CDME. On March 23, 2020, we officially activated the

In case you missed it, GRCVB released this report to the media last week. ...... Raleigh, N.C. (July 7, 2020) – The Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Raleigh) and the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance (GRSA) released a report detailing the impact that COVID-19 is having on...

Leaders in the hospitality sector and local community are hosting weekly conference calls with updates related to the COVID-19 crisis. Here is a summary of the call from Thurs., April 16, 2020 (or if you prefer to listen to the full recording, please find it here)... Dennis Edwards, president and