Tourism Talk blog

Do you remember that old Mac Davis song "Happiness is (an unnamed Texas city) in the Rearview Mirror"? We're going to paraphrase it to "Happiness is 2020 in the Rearview Mirror." With the end of this unexpected and unprecedented year in front of us and vaccines loaded onto...

It's hard to find employees these days who stay with the same organization for decades. Long gone are the days when staffers spent their entire careers in the same job and retired in their sixties with the customary gold watch and a retirement party. But we have a rarity in our mix in that...

You may already know that GRCVB was the recipient, through Wake County, of $1.25 million in CARES Act funding, designated specifically for post-COVID tourism-related recovery through Dec. 30, 2020. We have been completely transparent in how the Bureau has put CARES Act money to work, in

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

We have been reporting on GRCVB's launch of a comprehensive marketing campaign supporting area tourism's rebuild and recovery, themed “Wish You Were Here” (WYWH), in Aug. 2020. Through WYWH messaging, we are doing our best to persuade potential visitors (individual families...

Everywhere we go these days, someone is taking our temperature. So this week, we are "taking the temperature" of GRCVB and of tourism in Wake County. We asked Dennis Edwards for his honest appraisal of the current pandemic situation from his role as president and CEO, its impact on the...

Leaders in the hospitality sector and local community have been reporting when necessary by way of Zoom conference calls during the COVID-19 crisis. Here is a summary of the call from Wed., Sept. 30, 2020 (or if you prefer to listen to the full recording, please find it here)... Dennis Edwards,

We hope you had a chance to be part of our virtual Annual Meeting last month. If you weren’t able to see it live, we have published a synopsis here, and the recording is available at this link. In his comments, GRCVB president and CEO Dennis Edwards provided 2019 data, including the total...

You have been hearing from each department throughout the Greater Raleigh CVB in past weeks about what we have been working on during this COVID crisis. This week you are hearing from the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance (GRSA) and its director, Tori Collins. The GRSA team has been working on their

GRCVB’s Annual Meeting went virtual this year on Wed., Aug. 26, 2020. A full recording of the live presentation is available here along with a copy of the accompanying PowerPoint presentation. We’re including a few of the highlights in this blog post, although there is much more...