Greater Raleigh Tourism e-News
Welcome to the eleventh issue of Greater Raleigh Tourism e-News … presented by the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (GRCVB). This monthly e-News is the metamorphosis of two CVB communications tools (Visitor Advance and Matter of Fax). Please let us know about any news pertaining to Wake County's billion dollar visitor industry for possible inclusion in future issues.
IN VOLUME 1, ISSUE 11:
2006-08 CIAA Hoops Headed to Charlotte
Convention Center Construction Update
2005 Cooperative Marketing Opportunities
Assisted Bureau Bookings in November
Sales/Sports News
Dateline Raleigh
Events in Greater Raleigh Through Next Month
2006-08 CIAA Hoops Headed to Charlotte
On Dec. 14, the CIAA Board of Directors voted to play the 2006-2008 CIAA Basketball Tournaments in Charlotte's new uptown arena. Despite Raleigh's most competitive bid package and the fact that the tournament has enjoyed record-breaking success in Raleigh at the RBC Center with total turnstile attendance surging from 42,811 in Winston-Salem in 1999 to 90,855 in Raleigh in 2004 (a 112-percent increase), the conference opted for a new North Carolina venue, especially as it attempts to expand further south. The dates for the 2005 CIAA event in Raleigh are Feb. 28-Mar. 5.
The Bureau will commence work with area stakeholders to identify other sports event opportunities, just as it recently did when partnering with CASL to create the 2005 NICK soccer tournament. The NICK event will generate summer hotel room nights and visitor spending to more than replace the end of PONY softball's four-year run over the same time period.
Convention Center Construction Update
With plans moving forward to build a four-level underground parking structure to accommodate 980 parking spaces on the site beneath the new Marriott convention center hotel, the Raleigh City Council also voted recently to totally demolish the existing convention center to make way for the project – with the facility slated to officially close on Sept. 15, 2005.
Street closings and temporary lane closings would begin on Feb. 15, 2005. This would affect Cabarrus and Salisbury Streets until August 2007. In addition, temporary closures will affect Dawson, Lenoir and McDowell Streets until July 31, 2005.
The new convention center complex is expected open in February 2008 and result in 900 additional new jobs and more than $50 million additional economic benefit annually for Wake County. Click here for more details.
2005 Cooperative Marketing Opportunities
From significant sporting events like the U.S. Open Golf Championship in nearby Pinehurst to hundreds of holiday and spring events, there are many ways to leverage CVB programs and assist your business goals through the area's billion dollar visitor industry.
Some exciting cooperative partnerships have been developed for 2005 that offer ways to join forces with CVB campaigns via online, magazine and newspaper advertising with participation rates starting from $250. The Bureau has been able to negotiate unprecedented affordable rates in the Charlotte Observer and Valassis newspaper insert throughout North Carolina, magazines like Southern Living, Our State, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, House & Garden, Conde Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and eight online endeavors.
Among other highlights are the TGIF weekend promotion, The News & Observer weekend program, GolfZoo packaging and free opportunities like hot deals, special offers, a Golf Concierge program and much more.
For more information about these co-op marketing opportunities, please contact the Bureau's director of partnership and tourism marketing Shawn Braden at 919-645-2663 or sbraden@visitraleigh.com.
Assisted Bureau Bookings in November
• 2005 U.S. Roller Sports Championships, June 22-July 3, 2005 (3,675 TRN; $988,575 EEI)
• World Changers, June 18-July 2, 2005 (1,400 TRN; $732,900 EEI)
• 2005 ACC Tennis Championships, April 20-24, 2005 (1,300 TRN; $194,700 EEI)
• N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, March 8-10, 2005 (125 TRN; $145,875 EEI)
• Tar Heel Dance Classic, Sept. 22-26, 2005 (230 TRN; $113,853 EEI)
• Tough Shot (Bowling) Challenge, June 3-5, 2005 (400 TRN; $107,600 EEI)
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Sales/Sports News
The sales department hosted an Association Executives of North Carolina (AENC) meeting with the convention center staff at the Hilton North Raleigh and touted the new facility and new hotel product to 180 attendees. Bureau staffers shared much the same message with 57 future facility users when hosting an AENC Charlotte Chapter meeting at the Charlotte Marriott City Center. The luncheon's centerpieces – Christmas toys – were donated to the Mecklenburg County Police Explorers Children's Charity and presented to Captain Kathy Nichols by the GRCVB sales team (pictured here left to right: Heidi Walters, Amy Higgins, Kathy Nichols, Kumi Anzalone).
Meanwhile, the sports staff submitted bids for two pieces of business at the National Softball Association's annual convention in Tunica, Miss.: 2006 NSA Senior World Series and the 2005 NSA Super World Series (Men's Class E). The Bureau also attended the United States Specialty Sports Association annual convention in Jacksonville, Fla.
Dateline Raleigh
Raleigh was featured on the 3-Day Weekend program on Turner South Network that premiered on Nov. 4. The program aired a total of six times including on Nov. 6 and 24, 2004, reaching more than 7 million households in the Southeast with an advertising value of almost $300,000. There were other big hits in the Toronto Star, Chicago Sun-Times, Southern Living, Continental Magazine, Passport Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Orlando Sentinel, Wall Street Journal and more with combined media value approaching $100,000. The Bureau also hosted journalists on assignment for Canada's The Globe & Mail, Toronto Lifestyle, New Jersey's CitySmart, Florida's Spring Home & Garden and Tennessee's Greeneville Sun.
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