Carowind's Fury 325 roller coaster is among The Active Times' "14 Totally Terrifying Roller Coasters Around the World." Of the coaster, the article notes its "Claim to fame: World's tallest and fastest 'giga' coaster; at 325-feet tall, it's 20 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. Stats: Reaches up to 95 miles per hour, 81-degree drop."

The inclusion is a result of Visit North Carolina's PR team pitching the attraction to the writer. Coverage was picked up by numerous media outlets, including MSN.com. It reached a combined media total of 64,357,170 readers, generating $136,161 in media value.

Visit North Carolina has been busy working to ensure visitors are keeping themselves safe, encouraging them to enjoy their planned vacations to our coast and working with the media to portray an accurate account of the recent shark activity off our coast. This will continue to be a concern to travelers and a storyline for media throughout the summer.

Visit North Carolina has been coordinating ongoing communications with our coastal partners, the 800-VISIT-NC Call Center and Welcome Centers. We have also had discussions with shark experts from within the state and nationally on the theories of what might or might not be causing the increased encounters during the past few weeks. Most importantly, we have been monitoring all media and giving interviews on the impact the bites are having on tourism along the coast. Most recently we worked with CNBC on an article showing there's been little to no effect on tourism up and down the coast. Click here to read the CNBC story.

Visit North Carolina wants to thank you all for your ongoing communication with us. Please know we're here to help, Don't forget our beach safety guide is available online as well as a downloadable PDF version you can share with partners and/or visitors in your area.

A previous TRAC in Westfield

Tourism-related businesses in the Lake Gaston region - including Halifax, Northampton and Warren counties - plus other surrounding regional areas, 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 Warren County Armory, 501 US Hwy 158 Business East, Warrenton, NC 27589 on July 23. The TRAC session is being held in partnership with the Lake Gaston Regional Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center.

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. There is no charge to attend, no reservation is required and there will be no PowerPoint presentations.

Representatives from the EDPNC's BLNC, N.C. Dept. of Commerce, N.C. Dept. of Cultural Resources and NC GreenTravel will also be replace 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, to schedule a specific appointment time - although one isn't necessary, as this is a come-when-you-can/stay-as-long-as-you'd-like event - or to learn more about scheduling a TRAC visit to your community, contact André Nabors at (919) 447-7771.

Travel + Leisure has announced the winners of the World's Best Awards 2015 and several N.C. sites are on the list. For Continental U.S. | Large City Hotels (100 Rooms or More), the Grand Bohemian Asheville was No.19. The Westglow Resort & Spa in Blowing Rock tied for No.6 among the World's Best Destination Spas. For the Top 500 Hotels in the World, Best Hotels by Region, North Carolina has Grand Bohemian Hotel Asheville and Inn on Biltmore Estate in Asheville; Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary; Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte; Old Edwards Inn & Spa in Highlands; and Pinehurst Resort. The 20th annual poll is a result of T+L readers casting their votes for the hotels, destinations and companies that define the very best in travel. Asheville was No.10 among the World's Best Cities - U.S. & Canada.

Golf magazine has ranked N.C. No.6 in its "The United States of Golf: All 50 States Ranked By Their Golfiness." Writer Joe Passov paired his subjective analysis and experience with National Golf Foundation information to calculate each state's "golfiness" rating, using four categories: Avidness of Golfers, Quantity and Quality of Courses, Legacy Vibe and Travelin' Joe's Rating. Of North Carolina (which tied for No.6 with Michigan), the article explained "Pinehurst is known as the Home of American golf, and for good reason. Golfers have been spending vacations there since the 1890s, and it became the laboratory of architect Donald Ross, who built more than 40 courses in the Sandhills and elsewhere in the Tar Heel State. Charlotte, Greensboro, Asheville, Raleigh-Durham and the Grand Strand border towns north of Myrtle Beach offer a remarkable menu of golf options. Quail Hollow Club, the Charlotte host of the Wells Fargo Championship, is a favorite among the pros. So much so that it landed a major, the 2017 PGA Championship."

Condé Nast Traveler offers "What to Do in the Outer Banks (Without Getting in the Ocean)." The online article suggests activities for those who are "afraid of getting in the water," including visiting the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Wright Brothers National Memorial and Jockey's Ridge State Park.

Fodor's Travel includes Frying Pan Tower in its "15 Picturesque Lighthouse Hotels Around The World." The online article noted "Getting to the Frying Pan Tower, thirty-four miles off the coast of North Carolina, is half the fun - guests must take a helicopter or boat. This abandoned Coast Guard Light Station now operates as an eight-room B&B, with panoramic ocean views. Stargazing, soaking up the sunset, and taking a dip in the sea are also in the cards for guests. Insider Tip: Guests can also fish around the perimeter of the tower, and those who are lucky might catch black sea bass, mahi mahi, or spiny lobsters."

The Tarboro-Edgecombe County TDA/Chamber of Commerce is seeking a director. Complete information is available here.

Going off script to improve guest experience - While hoteliers used to embrace consistency and stuck to a script when it came to guest relations, now companies are encouraging staff to let their personalities shine - online and offline - to create a more authentic experience for guests. For example, at the Hotel Indigo Pittsburgh East Liberty, the team's motto is "throw the script out," said the director of sales and marketing. That makes hiring the right personalities all the more important. "We take a long time to hire our staff because you're not just hiring somebody who knows how to work at a hotel," they said. "A lot of people might not have ever worked at a hotel. You can teach someone how to check guests in, but you can't teach someone how to have a personality." "Our goal is to make things less of a transaction and more of an interaction," said the hotel's GM. "You can almost tell when people are going through the motions. Engaging the guest is the most important part." The need for authentic conversation also holds true on social media, where guests increasingly are interacting with hotels pre- and post-arrival, sources said.

Survey shows shifts in US travel habits - MMGY Global released its 2015 "Portrait of American Travelers" survey revealing several shifts in the travel habits of Americans. According to the study of nearly 2,900 U.S. adults, travelers are migrating from online travel agencies and heading directly to travel brand sites for research and to book travel at a substantially higher rate than in previous years. Only 58 percent of travelers obtained travel information from an OTA during the past year, down significantly from the 84 percent who did so in 2014. Millennials are increasingly interested in "staycationing," with 55 percent taking a vacation close to home opposed to traveling a greater distance during the past year.

No need to call the front desk, just send a text - Today, having a concierge ready at the tap of a thumb is an amenity offered mostly at luxury hotels. But more hotels of all types are beginning to accommodate guests unwilling or unable to fumble with a room phone to call a concierge - increasingly relying on text messages to keep smartphone-wielding guests happy and spending money. At the beginning of last year, Zingle, one of a handful of start-ups running the technology to connect hotel customers to concierge by text, ran a pilot program at a many of Four Seasons and Loews hotels. Today, it works with about 300 individual hotels, including Hyatt Regency. Kipsu, another start-up that works with Starwood Hotels and Menin Hospitality, is at 150 individual hotels - five times its count from a year before. But even more important, hospitality managers and analysts say, is saving a hotel from a bad review on TripAdvisor or Expedia, the powerful travel sites. For picky travelers, little things like a broken light or a leaky faucet can shave a star or two off an online review. But if guests can air grievances more easily and hotels respond quickly, the thinking goes, it could lead to more positive reviews.