Tourism Talk blog

If you attended “All Access Wake County” on Nov. 18, you know that accessibility is an important priority for GRCVB right now. You might also have noticed that, since July, visitRaleigh.com has been undergoing a certification process for AudioEye, a tool that provides valuable...

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

If you're reading this Tourism Talk blog post, you most likely received it through our Tourism Talk E-newsletter, which goes out to partners throughout Wake County each Mon. morning. And if you've been a partner with GRCVB for long, you've probably received an invitation to one of our...

I consider myself something of an art aficionado. Before I moved to Raleigh in 2005, I worked on a college campus and was good friends with some of the art faculty there, and they taught me how to think more deeply about art. For example, sometimes a piece of art carries deep and nuanced meaning and

Because of the 2019 Annual Meeting and previous Tourism Talk blog posts, you may already know that one of the key talking points for GRCVB this year is the value of tourism. Why does tourism matter and what difference does it make in the local economy, to the vibrancy of our area and to each of us

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...

Ah, Dorian. You threatened and howled, but all in all, we fared pretty well in our neck of the North Carolina woods in the wake of your fury. But we also know we’re not out of hurricane season yet, and there may be some additional stormy weather headed our way. With that in mind, here are...

Once a year or so, I overhear someone say that the Raleigh area doesn't have a brand. Having been project manager for development of the Raleigh, N.C., Destination Brand Strategy in 2014-2015, however, I know that we have at least one brand platform countywide! The problem is that we...

The 2019 GRCVB Annual Meeting, “Why Tourism Matters,” is in the books. Here are some scenes from our favorite day of the year. The theme What we hoped our guests would take away from this event was summarized in the theme—Why Tourism Matters—specifically how visitors and...

GRCVB released 2018 tourism numbers last week with some impressive results. Wake County welcomed 16.8 million visitors in 2018, an increase of 4.8% over 2017. These visitors who traveled to Wake County spent $2.7 billion, an increase of 7.2% over 2017. Both the numbers of visitors and visitor