| Weekly e-newsletter for VisitNC partners | February 8, 2017 |
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| IN THIS ISSUE:
* TRAC coming to Dunn/Harnett County region next week * Visit NC 365 fast approaching
* Bon Appalachia workshop has strong turnout
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 | | | A previous TRAC in High Point |
TRAC coming to Dunn/Harnett County region next week
Next week, on Feb. 16, tourism-related businesses in the Dunn/Harnett County region - including the surrounding counties - will have an opportunity to work with Visit North Carolina staff to learn about its research, development and marketing services, and discuss best practices in reaching travelers, the media and increasing tourism visitation and spending. Visit North Carolina's Tourism Resource Assistance Center (TRAC), a community-based training program designed to help small tourism-related businesses, will be held 10 am - 2 pm at the Dunn Center (Historic Harnett Rosenwald School) at 660 East Johnson St. in Dunn. The Dunn session is being held in partnership with the Central Carolina Community College Hospitality Program. There is no charge to attend, no reservation is required, and there are no PowerPoint presentations. This is a come-when-you-can/stay-as-long-as-you'd-like event opportunity for all tourism-related businesses to meet one-on-one with program managers to discuss better ways to promote their property or event. TRAC brings Visit North Carolina's program managers to local communities to discuss the nuts and bolts of working with the organization. This invaluable program is designed to help tourism-related businesses engage more fully with programs offered by Visit North Carolina and its partners.
Representatives from the EDPNC's BLNC, N.C. Dept. of Commerce, N.C. Dept. of Natural & Cultural Resources and NC GreenTravel will also be on hand to discuss services they can provide businesses, including strategic planning, assisting with identifying funding sources and serving as liaisons with other local, state and federal agencies. For additional information on this session or to learn more about scheduling a TRAC visit to your community, contact André Nabors at (919) 447-7771. |
 Visit NC 365 keynotes focus on tourism industry trends: disruptive marketing, #CRISISready, and leveraging success
Visit NC 365 provides opportunities to catch up on the latest trends and issues facing the travel industry. Hear insights from keynotes Luke Williams, Melissa Agnes, and Andrew Davis who plan to transform the way you think, help you get your company #crisisready from the start, and inspire you to turn your serendipity into success. You'll leave each keynote session with tactical tools to help you change the conversation. Join us at 8:45 am on Monday to hear Luke Williams; Monday at 4:15 pm for Melissa Agnes' keynote; and Tuesday morning at 8:45 am for Andrew Davis. The annual Visit NC 365 conference is the state's premier travel industry event, bringing together more than 500 of the state's tourism industry leaders. This three-day educational conference is one you won't want to miss. Online conference registration is available with a rate of $499 through March 1 to avoid late fee charges. Directly book hotel reservations online or call the Holiday Inn Greenville at (877) 271-2616 and ask for the Visit NC 365 conference group block for the group rate of $129/night + tax. When you register, don't forget to share in the action with the hashtag #VisitNC365 on Twitter @NCTourism and Facebook @NCarolinaTourism. Also, be sure to keep up with news and announcements leading up to the conference by following. Visit NC 365 already has a great list of sponsors, but if you haven't signed up yet and would like to help make this year's conference even better, contact Heidi Walters (919) 447-7762. |
 Bon Appalachia workshop has strong turnout
Visit NC's Partner Relations Manager Andre Nabors, in partnership with Mount Airy Tourism and Surry County, hosted an agritourism workshop at the N.C. Center for Viticultural & Enology at Surry Community College last week. The workshop was in relation to the Bon Appétit Appalachia mapguide (BAA) with the Appalachian Regional Commission. Destination by Design, the consultant for the project, conducted the BAA principles and platforms and best practices of using social media to generate visitors to their sites. Annie Baggett, agritourism marketing specialist with N.C. Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services, was also on hand to discuss best practices of agritourism. More than 80 attendees from around the region participated in the workshop. The Bon Appétit! Bon Appalachia! campaign is a project of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), a regional economic development agency whose mission is to innovate, partner and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia. ARC and its Tourism Council, which includes representatives from the 13 states within the Appalachian Region, developed the Bon Appétit! Bon Appalachia! initiative to highlight the region's most distinctive local food destinations. Bon Appétit Appalachia! Is the largest searchable online map of local food businesses and entrepreneurs operating in Appalachia. Bon Appétit Appalachia! currently contains more than 830 local farms, restaurants, bakeries, breweries, wineries, and festivals operating in the 13 Appalachian states, and continues to expand. Bon Appétit Appalachia! was originally released in 2014 with 500 locations. Today's version includes 72 percent more locations and the project continues to expand. |
Columbus travel show sees strong interest in N.C.
This past weekend, Visit NC attended AAA Great Vacations Travel Expo in Columbus, Ohio. The booth saw a solid amount of traffic throughout the consumer travel show. This year's show expected an attendance of 14,000. Consumer travel shows offer additional opportunities for Visit NC - and its interested partners - to promote travel to North Carolina to potential visitors who are actively looking for travel suggestions and information. The AAA Ohio Auto Club hosted this travel expo as an opportunity to meet face-to-face with Ohio's most sought-after travel consumers, who represent more than $1.5 billion in annual vacation and travel spending. |
 Groundhog Day social media coverage highlights Raleigh-Area attractions
With the emerging popularity of real-time video content across social media platforms, the Visit NC social media team sought to capitalize on the Groundhog Day festivities in Raleigh last Thursday. The team captured events on the ground through Facebook Live, Instagram stories, Twitter and Snapchat - all with the focus of providing engaging and relevant content to Visit NC's varied audiences across platforms in real time. While there, they also highlighted and gathered content for Raleigh-area attractions that both visitors and residents can enjoy, like the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. The Facebook Live stream had 1.800 organic views in the first 27 hours, while the Instagram story had more than 6,000 views. The team also used the results from the shadow ceremony to create a quiz to engage users on Twitter. There are many benefits of using live video on social media: - Builds authenticity and credibility with your audiences
- Provides behind-the-scenes peeks
- Allows for a more experiential form of content storytelling beyond pictures
- Doesn't require large investment in film equipment or production - can be done right from your smartphone
Follow along as Visit NC captures more events and North Carolina experiences throughout the year. |
 Dirty Dancing celebrates 30th anniversary with collector's box set, limited theater release
To mark the 30th anniversary of Dirty Dancing, Lionsgate released yesterday (Tuesday) a new Blu-ray, DVD and limited edition Collector's Edition box set of the timeless film. To build interest, Lionsgate offered a limited re-release of the film to more than 550 select movie theaters last month. Lionsgate will continue the year-long celebration with an ongoing North American tour of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage; a new consumer products program; a new mobile game and a network television presentation of a reimagined, captured-live Dirty Dancing musical event, scheduled to air on ABC May 24. |
 N.C.-filmed feature Grass Stains premieres at Santa Barbara International Film Festival
The N.C.-filmed independent feature Grass Stains had its world premiere this past weekend at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Shot in Wake, Johnston and Nash counties in 2013, the story is a coming-of-age tale about a teenage boy whose life is changed when a new girl moves into town and matters get complicated when a prank on the girl's family takes a tragic turn. In a review of the feature, The Hollywood Reporter called special attention to the filming locations stating "the well-photographed North Carolina locations add texture to the story." According to paperwork filed with the N.C. Dept. of Revenue, the production had a direct in-state spend of $923,000. |
 Cycle North Carolina announces Mountains to Coast ride route
Cycle North Carolina has announced the route for the 19th Annual Mountains to Coast ride, Sept. 30-Oct. 7. This year's route starts in Jefferson with stops in Elkin, Oak Ridge, Chapel Hill, Knightdale, Wilson, Kinston, and then finishes in Swansboro. Nearly 1,100 bicyclists from across the U.S. and even outside the U.S. are expected the participate. View the video announcement here. For the second year, Visit NC will be offering Cycle NC/Visit NC excursions. These daily excursions give participants and those traveling with them the opportunity to take a break from the ride and experience North Carolina. A dedicated motorcoach is being provided that departs from the overnight host city in the morning and stops at a few attractions and a destination for lunch each day before arriving at the next overnight host city in the late afternoon. Participants pay a fee to help offset costs to the attractions that host them. They will also have the opportunity to shop and learn more about the state for future visits. This is an opportunity to spread the economic impact of the Cycle NC ride to many more communities on or near the route of the ride. Visit North Carolina, under the previous mantle of the N.C. Division of Tourism, Film & Sports Development, is a founding sponsor of Cycle North Carolina's Fall Ride and Spring Ride. Cycle North Carolina offers one of the largest cross-state bicycle tours in the United States. The Fall and Spring rides, in addition to the Mountain Ride in August, are designed to promote North Carolina's scenic beauty while providing substantial economic impact to small towns across the state. During the past 18 years, Cycle North Carolina has stopped overnight in more than 100 North Carolina towns and visited nearly 700 North Carolina communities.
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Meeting registration open regarding updates on disaster relief funding for local governments
The Golden LEAF Foundation and the N.C. Dept. of Commerce will be holding several meetings with local government officials to provide an update on disaster relief funding for local governments Feb. 9 -17. These sessions will focus on recovery efforts related to Hurricane Matthew in eastern North Carolina. Feb. 9 - Robeson County Feb. 10 - Duplin County, Craven County Feb. 16 - Wake County Feb. 17 - Pasquotank County, Martin County
The Disaster Recovery Act of 2016 includes a $200 million recovery package to provide disaster relief to those affected by Hurricane Matthew, recent wildfires in the western part of N.C., and Tropical Storms Hermine and Julia. The package allocates $25 million to the Golden LEAF Foundation, including $20 million to provide grants to local governments for infrastructure and $5 million for small business loans, and $10 million to Commerce for local government infrastructure grants.
Click here to register to attend any of these meetings; click here to access the Golden LEAF Disaster Recovery Grants Program funding requirements. |
 N.C. has 3 among 'Best Hotels in the U.S.'
U.S. News & World Report has released its "Best Hotels in the USA 2017." The Old Edwards Inn & Spa (#46) in Highlands and The Umstead Hotel and Spa (#79) in Cary were among the top 100 in the list. The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte joined Old Edwards and The Umstead in earning gold badges and ranked as the top three - Old Edwards, The Umstead and The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte - among the "Best Hotels in North Carolina." U.S. News scored luxury hotels (4-star and higher) using a methodology that combines each hotel's industry awards with expert and guest reviews. |
 American Airlines is adding two new destinations to CLT
American Airlines announced this week that it's adding two new weekly routes from Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The flights - from Georgetown, Bahamas, and Bangor, Maine - will both operate on Saturdays. |
 Beech Mountain Brewing Co. brew among 'You Should Drink Some Ski-Inspired Beers This Winter'
The Patroller Porter at Beech Mountain Brewing Co. in Beech Mountain is among Outside.com's suggestions for "You Should Drink Some Ski-Inspired Beers This Winter." Of Patroller Porter, the online article wrote, "What happens when a ski resort opens an on-property brewery? You get a whole lineup of beers with great ski-related names. Plus, this is western North Carolina, the best spot for beer on the East Coast. (Sorry, Brooklyn.) Patroller Porter, a stout with rich coffee and toasty malt flavors, is our favorite of Beech Mountain's offerings. We trust that the members of Beech Mountain's ski patrol wait until after hours to drink their namesake pints." |
Surveys, Industry, Marketing & Travel Trends The Fifties are the new target demographic for travel brands - As with any demographic group, the Fifties are as much about a mindset as any age group, reports Skift as part of its "Travel Megatrends 2017" report. In this case, they're the consumer group that has the technological savvy of the millennials, with the realities of the Baby Boomer generation, [such as employment, children in or out of the nest, and divorce]. These 52- or 59-year-olds seem much "younger" than their parents were at this stage because of medical advances, job hopping and starting families later in life. The Fifties don't need a brand to introduce them to "experiences," they just want the fastest way from the theme park to the local restaurant and on to their boutique/independent hotel or Airbnb. And, yes, they'll most likely be taking an Uber XL rather than a Hertz rent-a-car (or even airport shuttle) to get there. Because of employment patterns, Fifties have a level of choice that younger demos don't, but they are also cautious with their spend because of family responsibilities and long-term goals. Hotel grab n' go offerings evolve in design, location - Travelers' love of all things culinary has helped the hotel grab n' go phenomenon to expand beyond just offering a few wraps and baguettes in a chilled display cabinet, reports HotelNewsNow. Such offerings must now be stylish as well as boost properties as revenue centers. The other fundamental ingredients, sources said, include the recent trend of incorporating local communities into the style and offerings, and having hotel grab n' go outlets equally accessible to guests and locals. As many brands look to generate a higher percentage of income and profit via their F&B operations, grab n' go options are becoming more visible in more convenient spaces within hotels. In addition, these units can be a fixed design or a pop-up as needs and space dictate. Pillow menus pop up in hotels - Always ready to pamper their guests in every way, higher-end lodgings worldwide have upped their game in the slumber department with pillow menus that cater to a variety of pillow preferences, notes the Toronto Star. They offer headrests in a variety of shapes, sizes and fillings - natural, synthetic, water-filled and scented -- designed to ease pain and stiffness, relieve allergy symptoms and sooth the senses for a comfortable five-star sleep experience. For instance, the Ritz-Carlton Toronto added five pillow options, in addition to its standard down or its foam filled, in January 2015, in keeping pace with what has become a popular trend at upscale hotels and resorts around the globe in recent years. Millennials demand purpose-driven experiences - As the largest subset of the workforce, millennials are shaping the future of work (and as result, the meetings industry) around purposeful experiences, reports Smart Meetings. A new form of experience-driven life, one that offers personal transformation, has become the new millennial creed. This generation spends money previous generations used to save for cars, homes and retirement accounts on personal experiences, events, conferences, travel and lifestyle activities. A side-bar story, "Experiencesto impress millennials," noted, when millennials meet, they're not just looking for an itinerary: They want an experience. To lure millennials, destinations, resorts and professional training programs are highlighting special events, avant-garde entertainment and experiential learning. Showcased in this as an example is Raleigh and the Greater Raleigh CVB's creation of themostnc.com, a music-focused website designed to attract millennials to Greater Raleigh's concerts and shows. Remote workers turn to co-living spaces for next-gen meeting venues - As the number of remote workers continues to rise, so do the number and variety of spaces to accommodate them, says Skift. According to Euromonitor International's 2016 World Travel Market Global Trends Report, "there has been a rise in start-ups offering co-living with all amenities and attracting a younger generation lured by the cheaper rents in desirable locations. With changes in how we work, live, and travel, hotels and short-term rental providers are changing their products and services to cater to new demands." Co-living and co-working spaces have become a major area of interest among hoteliers, chief among them Ian Schrager, who recently told Skift he was fascinated by co-living and co-working spaces as the next big trend in hospitality. Although co-living and co-working spaces mostly cater to the individual, some are equipped to offer a new kind of hybrid venue for groups. Some have transformed into meeting spaces that are conducive not just for gathering but actively working, shared accommodations that feel relaxed and lived-in, plus a level of service on par with what they'd find at many hotels. |
Ecofriendly insulation One of the most important aspects of optimizing heating and cooling efficiency, outside of the HVAC system itself, is insulation. Insulation works by slowing conductive heat transfer, and a slight amount of convective heat transfer. In winter, insulation slows the flow of heat from inside the building to the outside, and vice versa during warmer months. When considering what type of insulation to use a few factors should be considered: material safety, the R-value, and sustainability. The R-value refers to how efficiently a material traps heat, so the higher the rating the better. Cellulose is an inexpensive, sustainable alternative to fiberglass because it is made from recycled paper, and its R-value is comparable to fiberglass. Cellulose does, however, have to be treated to make it fire retardant. The U.S. Dept. of Energy has useful information and links about various materials and what R-value ratings are best for different parts of a building. For more information about the NC GreenTravel Initiative,contact ECU Center for Sustainability Partnership Coordinator Kamara Jones at (252) 737-4312, or Manager Tom Rhodesat (919) 707-8140. |
| | On North Carolina Weekend for the week of Feb. 9, tour the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield. Let your taste buds confirm the TV success story of Phenomenal Dumplings in Raleigh. Check into The Inner Banks Inn in Edenton. Discover The Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby. And the "House Special" samples the fare at Picnic in Durham. Durham. (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. Please note that the Friday (re-)broadcast of North Carolina Weekend has moved to 7:30 pm. The Thursday night regular broadcast time of 9 pm remains the same. | Overnight visitors to North Carolina in 2015 spent an average of 3 nights in the state in 2015. This was an increase from 2.8 nights in 2014. For more North Carolina regional visitor profile information, visit Visitor Profile Studies or contact Tourism Research Director Marlise Taylor at (919) 447-7748. |
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Upcoming Industry Meetings & Events
Feb. 16 - Visit NC TRAC, Dunn Feb. 21 - NCTIA Legislative Tourism Day Reception, Raleigh March 10-19 - South by Southwest Conference and Festivals, Austin, Texas March 12-15 - Travel South Showcase, Branson, Mo. March 14 - NC Sports Assn. Meeting, Charlotte March 16-17 - MPI-CC Meeting, Myrtle Beach, S.C. March 24-26 - Mountain-to-Sea Trail Annual Meeting, Elkin March 27-30 - NASC Sports Event Symposium, Sacramento, Calif. April 6 - MPI-CC Global Meetings Industry Day, Charlotte, Raleigh & Myrtle Beach April 6 - NC Coast Host Quarterly Meeting, Elizabethtown April 19 - US Travel Assn's Secure Tourism Summit, New York, N.Y. April 20 - Visit NC TRAC, Marion |
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