Greater Raleigh Tourism e-News
Welcome to the Greater Raleigh Tourism e-News … presented by the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (GRCVB). 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 12:
Raleigh Submits Bid for 2006-08 MEAC Hoops
Downtown Raleigh Project Updates
Greater Raleigh CVB – The Readers' Choice
Country Living Magazine Features Raleigh
Hot Off the Presses
2005 Cooperative Marketing Opportunities
Staff Comings and Goings
Assisted Bureau Bookings in December
Sales/Sports News
Events in Greater Raleigh Through Next Month
Raleigh Submits Bid for 2006-08 MEAC Hoops
Local officials have begun efforts to lure another postseason basketball tournament to the area to replace the 2006-2008 CIAA Basketball Tournament which will be moving to Charlotte. Friday, Jan. 21 was the deadline for interested cities like Raleigh to formally bid for hosting the 2006-08 Division I Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Basketball Tournament. Richmond has hosted the tournament since 1998 and other interested cities include Winston-Salem and perhaps Baltimore.
Raleigh will certainly tout its many CIAA successes and the fact that the tournament 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). A decision is expected in the coming months.
Downtown Raleigh Project Updates
Schematic design work continues for the new downtown Raleigh convention center, adjoining Marriott hotel and four-level underground parking structure. The Raleigh City Council recently approved a $8.97 million bid to reopen Fayetteville Street Mall to traffic. The completion date for that project is May 2006 with construction set to begin in March 2005.
The Council also endorsed a new traffic flow pattern around the construction areas. Street closings and temporary lane closings will begin on Feb. 15, 2005. This will 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. Learn more about these downtown projects and the convention center construction progress.
Greater Raleigh CVB – The Readers' Choice
The GRCVB was recently presented with ConventionSouth magazine's inaugural Readers' Choice Award. ConventionSouth has been the recognized leader in covering the South's meetings industry for the past 21 years.
The publication asked meeting professionals to name the convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), convention centers, conference centers, hotels, resorts and other meeting sites that they believe display exemplary creativity and professionalism to groups. Only the top vote getters out of approximately 2,000 meeting sites and CVBs received this recognition.
"The value in receiving this recognition is that it comes from the United States' top meeting planners who book events in the South. These planners demand the highest level of customer service and quality facilities, and they have determined that the recipients of ConventionSouth's Readers' Choice Awards do indeed display the commitment to professionalism, creativity, excellence and outstanding customer service they require," said ConventionSouth President and Publisher J. Talty O'Connor. "It is an honor to announce that the Greater Raleigh CVB was selected by these planners as one of the best in the South."
Of late, Raleigh has also been touted as one of 10 to watch as a new meetings mecca by Successful Meeting Magazine and named to EXPO's List of Exceptional Values.
Country Living Magazine Features Raleigh
Raleigh is February's choice in the popular Antiques Across America section of Country Living Magazine. The spread featured five pages of editorial with a public relations value of $420,000, not to mention another eight-page feature utilizing the items purchased in Raleigh. The story highlighted the North Carolina State Fairgrounds Flea Market and touted Ole Time Barbecue, Oakwood Inn Bed & Breakfast, B&B's Country Garden Inn and the Holiday Inn Brownstone.
Said the magazine, "What's to love? Lots, according to Raleigh-based interior designer Ann Nicholson, who has been shopping the Fairgrounds Flea Market for her clients for more than a decade. 'I've visited flea markets all over America and Europe and this one is my favorite,' says Ann. 'It's one of the few places you can have a whole lot of fun for under $25.'"
Hot Off the Presses
Many of the CVB's most popular and important collateral pieces have arrived and 700,000 total copies are now in circulation, including the 2005 Visitors Guide to Raleigh and Wake County, Greater Raleigh Maps and TGIF Weekend Brochure.
The 76-page Visitors Guide highlights many aspects of the City Life, Carolina Style campaign, including original cover artwork by Raleigh native Kay Hutchison (pictured left). Among the highlights in this year's edition are enhanced area maps and a seven-page dining guide listing some 300 restaurants by geographic location, as well as expanded sections on golf and African American heritage sites. The guide also features a 2005 calendar of selected events, a two-page section of suggested itineraries for any length of stay, local attractions, cultural opportunities, shopping information, sports and recreation options, information on 124 Greater Raleigh hotel accommodations and downtown Raleigh's entertainment districts.
Meanwhile, the TGIF brochure touts the CVB's signature weekend leisure promotion since 2001. This year, 23 local hotels are participating by offering their guaranteed lowest available weekend hotel rates throughout 2005. Visitors booking the TGIF rate also receive a free $10 shopping card to Crabtree Valley Mall or Triangle Town Center, and enhanced Visitor Rewards card good for valuable discount offers to participating local attractions, stores, museums, restaurants and golf clubs and more. A new 2005 feature is a free Sprint Calling Card. Learn more about the TGIF promotion at www.VisitRaleigh.com/TGIF.
For more information about these publications, please call 919-834-5900.
2005 Cooperative Marketing Opportunities
From significant sporting events like the U.S. Open Golf Championship in nearby Pinehurst to hundreds of 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 inserts 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.
Staff Comings and Goings
Sales manager Amy Higgins and communications and marketing coordinator Kira Peoples have departed the GRCVB for exciting professional opportunities. Higgins will be director of sales at a Holiday Inn property in Tallahassee, Fla., while Peoples assumed a newly created recruiter position at a local community college.
Ryan Smith recently joined the Bureau staff as its communications and marketing manager. With a public relations degree from Appalachian State University, she worked in the communications department at both the Charleston (S.C.) CVB and Nashville CVB and has marketing experience with Adams Outdoor Advertising. She was a 2001 Southeast Tourism Society 'Rising Star' Award finalist for new leaders in the tourism industry.
Assisted Bureau Bookings in December
- 2005 EA Sports Summer Classic, June 2-5, 2005 (3,600 TRN; $1 million EEI)
- Conference on Evangelizing Black America, July 3-8, 2005 (625 TRN; $641,625 EEI)
- N.C. Association of Electric Cooperatives, 2005 meetings (277 TRN; $187,530 EEI)
- Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors, April 19-24, 2005 (460 TRN; $153,060 EEI)
- Institute of Electrical & Electonic Engineers, Nov. 6-10, 2005 (508 TRN; $126,123 EEI)
- 2005 USA South Softball Championship, April 15-17, 2005 (490 TRN; $117,336 EEI)
Sales/Sports News
The sales department hosted site visits for Eclectic Learning Center and National Consortium on Health Sciences and Technology Education, as well as the North Carolina Association of CVBs bi-monthly meeting.
Meanwhile, the sports staff worked with area partners to submit bids for five future pieces of business: 2006 and 2007 NCAA College Cups (Men and Women) and 2005 AAU Boys Basketball Super Regional. The soccer presentations are in February, while a hoops decision should be made later in January.
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