Weekly e-newsletter for Visit NC Partners - August 15, 2024
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Visit NC at ESTO
* Visit NC rolls out inaugural Trail Town Guide
* PR team, partner pitching scores major Halloween coverage
Visit NC at ESTO
Visit NC's Wit Tuttell, Katie Bailey, Veda Gilbert, Scott Peacock, Marlise Taylor and Heidi Walters attended ESTO this week in Columbus, Ohio. Partners from across North Carolina, along with N.C. Department of Commerce's Wally Wazan, also joined the group.
Veda Gilbert co-facilitated the ESTO “Public Relations-States Peer Open Forum.” With fellow facilitator Joshua Coddington of Tourism Arizona, Gilbert delved into how PR and communications roles vary among state tourism offices. The forum allowed tourism communications colleagues from across the country to connect and discuss what’s working, what isn’t and what’s new.
Visit NC’s “For Real, Visit North Carolina” campaign was one of three states to be named a finalist for a Mercury Award in the Broadcast Advertising: Television category. View the ads in the campaign here.
Visit NC rolls out inaugural Trail Town Guide
Visit NC’s new Official North Carolina Trail Town Guide is a collection of pathways for adventure-loving travelers and culture seekers exploring the Great Trails State. Created through the Outdoor NC initiative in partnership with 15 allied destinations, the digital-only guide serves as a go-to resource for natural wonder. For each destination, the guide links to a selection of trails, accessibility details, responsible recreation practices and trip tips from local experts. It also includes a map, a list of the seven Outdoor NC Leave No Trace principles, and an invitation to "Join the movement” toward sustainable travel.
Visit NC launched the Outdoor NC initiative in 2020 to address the toll taken on public lands as people sought escape from pandemic-induced confinement. With Leave No Trace as a founding partner, Outdoor NC enlisted destination marketers, public agencies, nonprofits and private businesses to help educate and inspire responsible use of irreplaceable gifts. The Trail Town Guide heightens the commitment while highlighting trails with more than muscle appeal. As designated in the guide, the 15 towns and surrounding areas are Asheville, Blowing Rock, Brevard, Burgaw, Eden, Gastonia, Highlands, Old Fort, Nags Head, Smithfield, South Mills, Southern Pines, Sylva, Waynesville, and Wilkesboro.
For more information on the Trail Town Guide or the Outdoor NC initiative, contact Amanda Baker.
Visit NC PR team, partner pitching scores major Halloween coverage
Oxford, Hendersonville and Boone were featured in the HGTV.com roundup “Discover the Best Small Towns to Celebrate Halloween.” The writer reached out to the PR teams at Visit NC and partner destinations, and the trio of places was among those pitched in response. Attractions highlighted along with seasonal events included Oxford's Granville Haunt Farm, Hendersonville's Haunted Farm, and the High Country's Grandfather Mountain and Tweetsie Railroad. HGTV.com reaches 9.5million unique monthly visitors.
In another Halloween placement, the Punkin Chunkin festival in Brasstown and the Gross Farm maze in Sanford were included in SheBuysTravel’s “Spooky or Sweet? 13 Unforgettable Halloween Getaways” as a result of information from Visit NC’s PR team. MSN.com picked up the post for a combined reach of nearly 9.8 million unique monthly visitors.
Walters speaks to WAHA about Visit NC
Last week, Visit NC's Heidi Walters spoke to the Wilmington Area Hospitality Association in Wilmington. Walters provided tourism impact numbers for 2022, as well as other research on what drives traffic to the coastal areas and how overall research determines the Visit NC marketing strategy over all markets. WAHA promotes the interests of the hospitality industry in New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties, bringing together all businesses who enjoy the benefits of a vibrant visitor market.
New North Carolina Retirement Guide in the works Retire NC is excited to announce its partnership with Leisure Media 360 to produce a new retirement guide to serve the state. This new print publication will be in magazine format, offering the best of North Carolina and its Certified Retirement Communities. It will include a welcome page, overall information on the state and individual community pages, as well as a profile of a relocated retired person or couple from each of the state’s three regions.
The opportunity for communities – whether a CRC or not – to present more of their assets through paid media (advertorial or traditional display advertising) is available. Contact Leisure Media 360's Cynthia Bruggeman to request rates and more information.
For more information on the Retire NC program and guide, contact Andre Nabors at (919) 447-7771.
Vote for NC sites among ‘Best of fall’
North Carolina has several sites in four categories among the nominations for 10Best's Readers' Choice Awards categories for “Best of fall.” Online voting by readers is now open via USAToday.com; click on the hyperlink to vote. Voting ends at noon onSept. 9.
5,000 hotels worldwide adopt WTTC's Hotel Sustainability Basics Initiative – The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Hotel Sustainability Basics program
has reached a key milestone, reports TravelPulse. Since its debut this past January, more than 5,000 properties across 80 countries have joined the initiative to become more sustainable. The independent verification program is supervised by assessors Green Key and SGS, and offers a 12-step criteria for hotels of any size to reduce carbon emissions, energy and water consumption and improve waste management, all while ensuring local communities directly benefit from hotel operations.
Your Favorite Hotel’s Spotify Playlist Is the Best New Souvenir – The hottest travel souvenir in the world is the signature Spotify playlist from your favorite hotel, according to InsideHook.com. And when you want to relive a wonderful vacation – that idyllic afternoon on the beach, romantic dinner in the evening or everlasting party at the lounge – you can pull it up on your phone, press play and take a cruise down memory lane in a way that’s far more powerful and sensory-rich than scrolling through your photos. For one hotel, “The playlist is a living thing for the hotel, evolving to reflect the property’s current situation and season. And for special events, guests can even request to have a unique playlist created for the occasion.”
For the week of Aug. 15, "North Carolina Weekend” offers “Off the Beaten Path,” which originally aired May 16. Featured segments include Paynes Stained Glass in Pittsboro; Clemmons Educational State Forest in Clayton; Smith’s Drugs in Forest City; and Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in Rosman. (Check local listings, as segments are subject to change.) "North Carolina Weekend" is underwritten by Visit North Carolina. In addition, PBS North Carolina has recent editions of "North Carolina Weekend" available online.
Upcoming industry meetings & events
Aug. 18-20 – Destination Southeast, Point Clear, Ala. Aug. 22-23 – MPI-Carolinas Chapter Meeting, Myrtle Beach, S.C. Aug. 25-28 – AFCI Week, Los Angeles, Calif. Aug. 27-29 – Connect Sports Marketplace, Milwaukee, Wis. Aug. 27-30 – NCMA-VMA-MCASC Regional Meeting, Williamsburg, Va. Sept. 10-12 – STS Connections, Auburn, Ala. Sept. 11-13 – Great Trails State Conference, Winston-Salem Sept. 12 – Visit NC Monthly Webinar Sept. 23-25 – TEAMS Conference, Anaheim, Calif. Oct. 10 – Visit NC Monthly Webinar Oct. 14-17 - S.P.O.R.T.S.-The Relationship Conference, Wichita, Kan.
Visit North Carolina is part of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina
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