Tourism Talk blog

In our world of planning for meetings, conventions and events, hardly a week goes by that we don’t read another article on event security, attendee safety, active-shooter training and more. It’s a hard reality, too, that some weeks carry the news of yet another terrible incident....

When I was 17, my mother was not content to let me lollygag about without a job, so she went down to the local Tastee Freez in my little town and convinced the owner, Alan B., to give me a part-time, after-school position. (I remember a few things about Alan B. to this day. He did his bookkeeping

In the first Tourism Talk post of 2019, we outlined the three talking points GRCVB will be reiterating in much of our communication this year. The first of those and perhaps the most important is the Value of Tourism. We explained in detail why tourism matters to Wake County in the second post of

In all likelihood, you have seen a story about Raleigh/Wake County floating around the last few days from The Washington Post, written by Melanie D.G. Kaplan. If you missed it, you can read it here. It’s a stellar piece and highlights many of the visitor attractions, museums, restaurants,...

Tourism has a way of feeling secondary to other forms of economic development in a community, maybe because it represents a transient group of people or because some equate tourism with vacations, free sightseeing and off-hours entertainment. It tends to not carry the import that it deserves. But

Often during election seasons, you will hear candidates and their advisers talk about staying "on message"... that is, to not get distracted by tangential topics or issues that would take the focus from where it belongs—on that which is official and most important. During 2019,...

As we've moved into the implementation phase of the Destination Strategic Plan (DSP), we want to make sure we’re keeping our partners and other stakeholders “in the loop” about how Destination 2028 is progressing, as well as other notable recent developments which affect...

If you have been around GRCVB’s Marketing or Sales teams recently, you might have noticed that we have been using the theme Originally Raleigh for the last 10 months or so. Originally Raleigh describes the restaurants, attractions, products and events created by local makers and entrepreneurs...

Once a quarter, you should be seeing emails appear in your inbox inviting you to GRCVB’s See for Yourself (SFY) Fam Tours. The SFY series was created to provide a chance for hospitality partners and particularly front-line staff to be visitors in their own area. They can “see for...

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...