| Weekly e-newsletter for VisitNC partners | April 18, 2018 |
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| IN THIS ISSUE:
* German tour operators, media learn about N.C.
* Journalists trace Blackbeard's legacy on Visit NC tour
* AAA/CAA travel counselors tour Blue Ridge Parkway sites |
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 | | | Representatives with tour operator Fairflight prepared homemade Moravian cookies for a training session, which Visit NC's Heidi Walters (lf) sampled |
German tour operators, media learn about N.C.
Last week, Visit NC's Heidi Walters and Eleanor Talley met with several travel trade and consumer media in Munich and Berlin in Germany, as well as Vienna, Austria. Trade meetings with tour operators focused on co-op marketing opportunities for the current and next years. The public relations portion included desk-side appointments, networking luncheons and receptions in all three cities with a variety of media in attendance including editors, freelancers, bloggers and broadcast producers. The team met with more than 15 media contacts.
German speaking Europe continues to be a strong tourism market for North Carolina with an average of 8 percent growth compared to past several years. |
| | The group, pictured in Beaufort, was led by Visit NC's Suzanne Brown (seated front right) | |
Journalists trace Blackbeard's legacy on Visit NC tour With 2018 marking the tricentennial of Blackbeard's final days, Visit North Carolina's public relations team led an April 4-9 media tour to four destinations with connections to the world's most notorious pirate. Five writers from the United States, Canada, the U.K. and Switzerland soaked up the history, legends and scenery with hospitality from the Crystal Coast TDA, Ocracoke Civic & Business Assn., Washington TDA and Greenville-Pitt County CVB. Dressed as Blackbeard, author Kevin Duffus met the group to recount Blackbeard's history in North Carolina. The group also visited the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort, the repository for artifacts recovered from the Queen Anne's Revenge wreck site, and the QAR Conservation Lab at East Carolina University in Greenville. Visit NC offers "Walk in Blackbeard's Footsteps in North Carolina" on VisitNC.com. The Trip Idea is a four-day itinerary that visitors can tailor to their interests, schedule and budget. In addition, history is included to explain Blackbeard's strong connection to North Carolina. |
| | | The fam went behind-the-scenes at Tweetsie Railroad |
AAA/CAA travel counselors tour Blue Ridge Parkway sites on fam trip Visit North Carolina partnered with Virginia, Tennessee and the Blue Ridge Parkway Association to host travel counselors from AAA and CAA to familiarize them with the areas. The 25 AAA/CAA counselors were from 14 states and 2 provinces. The North Carolina portion of the Parkway tour showcased several sites including Biltmore Estate, Asheville, Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center, Hendersonville, Chimney Rock State Park, Linville Caverns, Grandfather Mountain, Mast General Store, Boone, Blowing Rock and Tweetsie Railroad. For more information on Visit NC's group travel program, such as ways to attract this market to a particular destination, contact Amanda Baker at (919) 447-7765. |
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Gear up for National Travel & Tourism Week, May 6-12
National Travel & Tourism Week takes place May 6-12 with Travel Rally Day on Tuesday, May 8. This year's observance features the theme "Travel Then and Now." Thirty-five years after National Travel & Tourism Week was established by a congressional resolution, the industry will celebrate with a new theme: "Travel Then and Now." The theme is a challenge to industry leaders to reflect on travel successes of years past while advocating for policies that promote growth for the future. Travel and tourism professionals from across the nation work throughout National Travel & Tourism Week to promote the impactful contributions their travel markets and organizations make to the U.S. economy. The travel community marks the event in a number of creative ways, from staging local rallies and conducting media outreach to securing proclamations and resolutions from local governments. After all, travel is a primary industry in America. U.S. Travel Association offers a toolkit, with resources such as ways to salute travel, talking points, suggestions for a successful Travel Rally Day, and samples for a proclamation, blog post, press release, op-ed, and media advisory. |
Blue Ridge Parkway views get major restoration with 'Renew the Views' project
In the first major project of its kind since the Blue Ridge Parkway was constructed in the 1930s, a team of parkway resource managers and skilled arborists are working around Haywood and Jackson counties to give some much-needed shearing to overgrown vistas, reports the Asheville Citizen-Times. The goal of the "Renew the Views" project is to balance the original, scenic design intent of the parkway and the National Park Service mission to protect its natural resources, said a parkway landscape architect. It's thought the forests - heavily logged at the turn of the 20th century - were just starting their regrowth when parkway construction got underway in 1935. The short saplings or nonexistent trees allowed for full viewing pleasure, which was the original purpose of the parkway - to attract tourists to the endless expanses of rippling mountain scenery. But nearly a century later, the trees have grown up into an even-aged stand, obscuring once-open views. Regular overlook vegetation maintenance is done every three years, but only enough to basically keep the bangs out of the onlooker's eyes. Visitors will be able to see for many more miles at certain overlooks, but on close inspection, they will also see what appear to be tree graveyards in the foreground. "People should know we're not killing trees," said a parkway botanist and Arborist Incident Response Team member. "[As we leave the trees where they fall,} they will re-sprout where they are." He said before any tree cutting takes place, monitoring is done to determine if the trees are vital habitat to wildlife. "We get a fair number of complaints that the overlooks are overgrown, and now where we've done the work, we get lots of compliments." Funding for the vista restoration is coming exclusively from partner groups, including the Haywood and Watauga county tourism development authorities and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. |
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International soccer tournament returning to Charlotte this summer It's official: Liverpool will play Borussia Dortmund in Charlotte this summer, reports the Charlotte Business Journal. The match is part of the International Champions Cup, a U.S.-based tournament featuring top European soccer clubs. Bank of America Stadium will host the match on July 22. Liverpool played there in 2014, attracting a near-sellout crowd of 69,000 for a match against AC Milan. Previous soccer "friendlies," as the exhibitions are called, generated $8 million to $9 million worth of spending on hotels, meals and other expenses, according to the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. Charlotte is already home to the minor league Charlotte Independence, a USL club planning to move to a renovated Memorial Stadium near uptown in 2021. Organizers have said Charlotte is a strong market for soccer. Major League Soccer began paying closer attention to the city as a potential expansion site, in part, because of the ICC matches. |
Downtown Salisbury Inc. changes calendar to focus on larger events Downtown Salisbury Inc. is rethinking its calendar, reports the Salisbury Post. An agency representative explained, "We said, 'OK, what is a draw? Which of these events gives people a reason to come out every time, every year? And why is that? Why do they work?'" After months of evaluation, she explained, the foundation has decided to focus on bigger events that will give the organization "more bang for our buck." She added, "We don't have less events. We have larger events that aren't limited to [for example] the First Friday date." Since the foundation entered into a public-private partnership with the city, it has had access to more resources and a closer partnership with the Parks & Recreation Department. "So that's the reasoning for this [calendar change]," she said. "If we're going to have an event, shouldn't we set out with a goal of bringing a thousand people downtown rather than a couple hundred on a First Friday?" She wants the public to realize that downtown - and downtown business owners - are here even if it's not a First Friday. |
Vote for N.C. faves among Best Small Town categories Several N.C. sites and favorites are among the America's Best Small Towns for four 10Best categories, as online voting by readers is now open via USAToday.com's website. Click on the hyperlink to vote. Voting ends May 14 at noon. |
Bull City Burger and Brewery's Tarantula Burger garners wide media coverage In honor of April being Exotic Meat Month, Bull City Burger and Brewery in Durham created the Tarantula Challenge, offering the chance to try a tarantula-topped burger. By working with the Durham CVB, who used its PR and social media channels, the unusual story garnered wide-ranging media attention, such as NBC's Early Today, Chicago's WGN and The Huffington Post. According to the Durham CVB, BCBB said they've also had interviews with media members from Canada, the UK, Germany, New Zealand, and other countries. |
 Asheville Distilling among '50 distilleries sourcing locally' As part of its "50 States" series, USA Today selected Asheville Distilling as the North Carolina designation for its "50 states: 50 distilleries sourcing locally." Of the selection, the photo gallery noted, "Asheville Distilling uses heirloom Crooked Creek Corn from North Carolina farmer John McEntire for all of its whiskeys. The Asheville, N.C., distillery offers tours and tastings on Fridays and Saturdays." |
How to write an environmental policy
A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it! That holds true when starting a green program. The first step toward achieving green goals is to write an environmental policy. Here are four simple steps to writing one. First, include a commitment to protecting the environment. This may be a simple statement that the business promises to do all it can to keep the environment healthy or it may specifically mention environmental stewardship methods. For instance, it could simply state, "(Name of Business) is committed to protecting our environment by conducting business in such a way as to conserve energy, water and natural resources." Or, it may state, ("Name of Business) practices environmental stewardship by reducing waste, recycling, installing energy efficient lighting, and by installing low-flow water fixtures." Next, include the commitment to observing all laws and regulations governing the protection of the environment. Then verbiage that states the commitment to continually improve the environmental stewardship program. And then sign and date the policy and display it where customers and employees can see it. For assistance in writing an environmental policy, contact NC GreenTravel Initiative manager Tom Rhodes at (919) 707-8140. |
| | For the week of April 19 on North Carolina Weekend, check out the night sky at the Earth to Sky Park at Mayland Community College in Burnsville. Celebrate all things cheese at the Carolina Mountain Cheese Festiva in Asheville. Explore River Forest Manor and Marina in Belhaven. Go hang-gliding with Kitty Hawk Kites in Beaufort. And the "House Special" previews the Carolina Donut Festival as well as other places to eat and drink in Marion. (Please note listings are subject to change.) North Carolina Weekend is underwritten by Visit North Carolina. In addition, UNC-TV has made recent editions of North Carolina Weekendavailable online. | The top international countries of origin for N.C. visitation in 2016 were Canada (46 percent), the United Kingdom (9 percent), Germany (6 percent), China (4 percent), Mexico (3 percent) and India (3 percent). Japan, France and Brazil followed with 2 percent each, and Australia rounded out the top ten with 1 percent of N.C.'s international visitation. For more North Carolina visitor information, contact Tourism Research Director Marlise Taylor at (919) 447-7748. |
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Upcoming Industry Meetings & Events
April 23-26 - NASC Sports Event Symposium, Minneapolis, Minn. May 2-3 - BRPA Annual Meeting, Bedford, Va. May 8 -Visit NC Travel & Tourism Board Meeting, TBD May 16-17 - MPI-CC Meeting, Wilmington May 17 - NC Coast Host Quarterly Meeting, Emerald Isle May 19-23 - U.S. Travel Assn.'s IPW, Denver, Colo. June 8 - NC Sports Association Quarterly Meeting, TBD June 14 - Visit NC's TRAC, Tarboro |
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