Tourism Talk blog

Quarterly report released GRCVB released its 2019 third-quarter industry report, and all indicators confirm that tourism is doing extremely well in Wake County. Hotel occupancy in the county is up 6.3%, running at 74.6% through Sept. year-to-date (YTD). Lodging tax collections are up 11.3% and

I’m sure you contend—in your work—with some of the same dilemmas that we do at GRCVB. There are many valuable ideas and projects that we could tackle, but the resources of time, people and funds are limited. So we, like you, have to prioritize—from among the options, we...

At GRCVB, there seems to be a cycle of buzzwords that we use in our meetings and hallway conversations. In the last year or two, I have heard master plan, disruption, deep dive and "move the needle" tossed around quite a bit. One phrase that has always been around but that we’re...

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,

As we move further into the implementation phase of the Destination Strategic Plan, we are making every effort to keep our partners and stakeholders informed about the work of GRCVB as Destination 2028 starts to take shape. To that end, here is president and CEO Dennis Edwards’s report to the...

We all know that one of the things that Raleigh, N.C., does best is events. And at no time of the year is that more evident than September when Raleigh hosts 19 major events and festivals under the Raleigh M.A.I.N. Events moniker. Six years ago, organizers realized that they were hosting and

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...

One of the visitor service areas that we are talking about more often here at GRCVB is accessibility—making Raleigh and Wake County’s offerings for visitors available to people of all abilities. Julie Brakenbury, CGSP ® , director of services, dealt with the topic in this blog a...

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.,