| September 10, 2014 |
 In this issue:• MYMU registration still open • The Disappointments Room begins filming in N.C. • Surveys, Industry, Marketing & Travel Trends ...and more |
| Regional Division marketing updates kick off next week; registration still open | ||
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| The Disappointments Room begins filming in N.C. |
| Filming is officially underway in North Carolina on the feature film The Disappointments Room. The production is basing in the Piedmont Triad Region, where all of the filming will also take place. Starring Kate Beckinsale, Lucas Till and Mel Raido, the film is the story of one family’s terror-filled encounter with supernatural beings within their own home. Principal photography is scheduled to run until late-October with overall production lasting a little more than 130 days in the state and is estimated to produce approximately 370 job opportunities. The production chose North Carolina based on the state’s highly skilled film professional work force, established infrastructure, and 25 percent refundable tax credit made available to productions who have a direct in-state spend in excess of $250,000. The N.C. Film Office, in conjunction with the Piedmont Triad Film Commission, has been working on securing the project for nearly two years.
The Disappointments Room is one of more than 35 productions that have to date filmed or will begin filming in North Carolina in 2014. All together, these productions anticipate having a total direct in-state spend in excess of $260 million while providing more than 19,000 job opportunities, including approximately 3,300 possible positions for the state’s highly-skilled crew base. |
| Festival looks to build on Brunswick County's rice heritage |
The effort to reclaim Brunswick County's rice heritage is being led by numerous groups, and they hope an upcoming festival will put it in the spotlight. W.C. Lanier had an idea for a river festival in Brunswick County. After all, the town of Belville had been touting its plan for a walkway project anchored at Brunswick River Park, and the northern end of the county didn't have a high-profile regional festival. But the idea to create the N.C. Rice Festival happened from a chance encounter. North Carolina's first-of-its-kind event later this month, is expected to draw about 4,000 visitors and will feature live music, a rice cooking competition and vendors. The town recently acquired the park from Brunswick County and has plans to renovate it to include a fishing pier, retail shops, a restaurant, a farmers market area along with viewing towers, bicycle trails and picnic areas. |
| ABA recognizes four N.C. events in Top 100 | |
ABA's Top 100 Events in North America is an annual compendium of the best events for group travel in the U.S. and Canada. ABA launched the Top 100 program in 1982 to help motorcoach and tour operators plan itineraries. The list is chosen from hundreds of celebrations, festivals, fairs, commemorative events, and more that have been nominated by ABA members. A selection committee of ABA-member motorcoach and tour operators selects the Top 100 Events for the subsequent year. To find out more, click here. |
| STS Top 20 Events for April-May-June deadline Oct. 3 |
The deadline for nominating events to the Southeast Tourism Society (STS) for its Top 20 Events for April-May-June is Oct. 3. Nominated events must have an attendance of at least 1,000 and be in the third year of existence. Top 20 Events strongly encourages entrants to support their nomination by providing supporting material such as photos, posters, brochures, press releases, news clippings and/or volunteer programs. There is a $20.00 entry fee required per event with two copies of the nomination form and supporting materials required. |
| Wrightsville Beach among ‘World’s Best Surf Towns’ | |
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| Asheville among Southern ‘Literary Destinations’ |
 USA Today, in its Travel Experience South, suggested to its readers to “Tour Southern literary destinations,” and included Asheville among the stops. The website explains, “Perhaps more than any other US region, the South packs an atmospheric punch that seems tailor-made for the written page. No wonder it's produced a wealth of writers who claim a hard-to-shake hold on readers' imaginations.” Of Asheville, the article says, “Today, picturesque Asheville is lauded as a bastion of the culinary arts, but in the early 20th century, its creative associations were more literary in nature. Look Homeward, Angel author Thomas Wolfe grew up here, while in the mid-1930s a foundering F. Scott Fitzgerald spent 11 troubled months at the city's fashionable Grove Park Inn. Explore the former's source material by touring Old Kentucky Home, the Wolfe family's boarding house (fictionalized in Look Homeward as Dixieland); later, head to the Grove Park for a sundowner – along with magnificent Blue Ridge views – on the Sunset Terrace, one of Fitzgerald's haunts during his stay.” |
| ‘36 Hours in Charlotte’ |
In its Friday Travel section on Aug. 31, The New York Times offered “36 Hours in Charlotte.” In addition to spotlighting several attractions and restaurants, the article noted, "[Charlotte’s] original crossroads lies in the shadow of the Bank of America tower in the heart of an eminently walkable downtown, which Charlotteans call Uptown. In the last decade, escapees from jobs in the corporate world have revitalized nearby enclaves like Dilworth, NoDa and Plaza Midwood, leaving galleries, breweries and farm-to-table enterprises in their wake – all increasingly linked by greenway, bike route and light rail. The 'Queen City' is smaller and easier to navigate than, say, Atlanta, and is an excellent place to soak up the new Old South.” |
| Surveys, Industry, Marketing & Travel Trends |
| Public parks in U.S. cities find new ways to market to visitors and locals - Taking a break from a city’s hurried pace can be as easy as visiting a public park, and city parks throughout the U.S. are finding new ways outside of social media to engage with visitors and locals and get them to visit. Finding a brand that doesn’t rely heavily on social media is challenging, but for some public parks, word-of-mouth marketing is still the biggest tool for getting visitors through park gates. A spokesperson with St. Paul, Minn., parks and recreation said a key change this year in the city’s marketing strategy is focusing on grassroot initiatives, such as free outdoor fitness classes in parks, more than free social campaigns on Facebook. However, social media continues to be important for parks.
Affluent Americans to travel more, spend more – A new report from MMGY Global shows that 20 percent of Americans with household incomes above $125,000 plan to travel more in the coming year and 50 percent are willing to pay more for high-quality lodging. Other key findings in the “2014 Portrait of Affluent Travelers” study were that travelers who earn $250,000 or more annually took an average of 6.2 leisure trips in 2013, significantly more than the 4.7 vacations taken by those with an annual household income between $125,000–249,999. Both groups of travelers expect to take more trips in the year ahead. Affluent travelers cite relaxation and enrichment as the most desirable attributes when they travel, as 75 percent cite the desire to have enough time to relax and unwind, 64 percent want to explore new cities and attractions, 59 percent wish to experience different cultures and 54 percent want to enhance their relationships. Tips to increase website traffic without using direct links - Most business owners understand how important a company’s online visibility is for the bottom line, which is why driving traffic to their website is one of the most imperative factors for success, according to Jennifer Nagy with jlnpr. Especially in the hospitality industry, in which a large percentage of bookings are made through the online channel, it is imperative that companies ensure that their website is as user-friendly as possible. One effective way to increase website traffic is to create direct links to the website; however, while it is effective, it can also be a laborious process, taking up much of a company’s time and money. Nagy offers new and innovative ways to drive traffic to a company’s website, such as improve the user experience, ensure the website is configured properly for mobile devices, and create a video for the site's homepage or for the business' YouTube channel. Record occupancy should push pricing power - Record occupancy projections for 2015 are giving operators the confidence to push rates. PKF Hospitality Research has released its updated forecast, which called for a 2015 year-end occupancy of 65 percent – a record for the industry, according to historical data from STR. By comparison, STR is forecasting occupancy to finish 2015 at 64.2 percent. Either projection represents significant growth from the trough of the past recession, during which occupancy sank as low as 43.6 percent in December 2009. The lowest annualized number also came during 2009, when occupancy finished the year at 54.6 percent, according to STR. Sources are confident strong demand numbers will continue to translate into pricing power. The rise and return of hotel dining - More dining options are hitting hotels and it’s giving operators a chance to radically increase their share of guest’s food dollars. The hotel industry is breaking records, but construction of full service hotels is bouncing back too. And it’s giving the food side of the business a chance to create dynamic, energetic and profitable dining outlets. That means more restaurants, bars and food service outlets coming to hotels. And hoteliers that are successfully able to complement their guest’s foodie focused lifestyle will be able to capture those additional dining dollars. Yes, hotel guests may want to explore outside the hotel, but hotels now have the opportunity to get their guests back for meals. These days, building F&B outlets in hotels is bouncing back as more sophisticated operators see the business potential of keeping guests in house during meal time. And of course to get guests to kick back in the bar with a few cocktails. Guestroom TVs invite new content streaming options for guests - Multiple electronic devices packed with personal media: that’s what travelers come armed with when they check into a hotel today. And it used to be that they could only watch their content on the device it was loaded on – whether a phone, tablet or laptop. This all happening while the guestroom TV sat there, power off, like a White Elephant. No more. Hotels now are moving quickly to allow guests to watch their content on that once-idle guestroom TV. According to a representative with Samsung’s Enterprise Business Division, consumers have been able to stream video from their portable devices to their TVs for some time now, and hotels have been making an effort to match the experience. Should hotels pause to provide these options in fear of cutting into the already-diminishing-market of video on demand (VOD)? A representative with LG Electronics USA said that VOD still has a value proposition for hotels that allow guests to use their own media on the TV thanks to VOD’s early release windows and convenience. Hotels responding to guests on TripAdvisor lead to more bookings - Responses from hotel management to user reviews on TripAdvisor are one of the factors that go a long way toward increasing bookings from guests who are considering a stay, according to a new study released by the online review site. The report shows hotels where management responds to guests on TripAdvisor are 21 percent more likely to receive a booking inquiry than hotels where there are no management responses. Hotels that respond to more than 50 percent of their reviews have even higher chances of a booking, up to 24 percent. The study ranks hotel engagement by number of photos, followed by those with the most reviews. Properties with the most management responses and number of reviews in the past year came in third and fourth, respectively. Compared to properties with no photos, having only one photo on the site leads to 138 percent more engagement, and more than 100 photos could yield more than 150 percent more engagement, with more than 1,000 photos jumping to more than 200 percent more engagement. |
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| NC GreenTravel: Idling diesel engines pose health, economical risks |
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Diesel exhaust from tour buses, shuttles and delivery trucks contains significant levels of particles, known as fine particulate matter, which can pose a significant health risk because they can pass through the nose and throat and then lodge in the lungs. Particulate matter is responsible for lung damage and thousands of premature deaths across the nation every year. Exhaust from vehicles can also enter buildings through air intakes, doors and open windows. Diesel exhaust also contains pollutants that contribute to ozone formation, haze, acid rain, and global climate change. Idling vehicles waste fuel and money, and when idling, a diesel engine burns about half a gallon of fuel per hour. There are simple tips on how to introduce an idle reduction policy at a facility. Vehicles should typically be moving whenever the engine is on. Engines should be turned off as soon as possible after arriving at loading or unloading areas. Vehicles should not be restarted until ready to depart. Limit idling time during early cold morning warm-up to what the manufacturer recommends (generally no more than five minutes). Train drivers to understand and follow the idle reduction policy. Provide a comfortable space inside where drivers can wait. Spot-check loading and unloading areas and delivery areas for compliance with the idling guidelines.
For more information, visit the EPA’s website for its National Clean Diesel Campaign; suggestions are available for the Idle Reduction Campaign. For more information, contact NC GreenTravel program manager Tom Rhodes at (919) 707-8140. For more information on sustainable tourism, contact Daniel Johnson with the Center for Sustainable Tourism at ECU at (252) 737-4296. |
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| Upcoming Industry Meetings & Events |
| Sept. 18 - MPI-CC Chapter Meeting, Durham Sept. 18 - Division's Mid-Year Marketing Update, Wilmington Sept. 19 - Division's Mid-Year Marketing Update, Manteo Sept. 21-22 - Restaurant & Lodging Trade Expo, Raleigh Sept. 24-25 - Blue Ridge Parkway Assn. Regional Meeting, Bedford, Va. Oct. 2 - Division's Mid-Year Marketing Update, Asheville Oct. 8-10 – N.C. Tourism Leadership Conference, Winston-Salem Oct. 10 - Division's Mid-Year Marketing Update, Winston-Salem Oct. 10 - N.C. Sports Association Quarterly Meeting, Winston-Salem Oct. 14-16 - STS Fall Forum, Charleston, S.C. Oct. 16 - N.C. Coast Host Quarterly Meeting, Topsail Island Oct. 20-22 - Marketing Outlook Forum, Atlanta, Ga. |
| Mailing Address: 4324 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-4324 | Building Location: 301 North Wilmington Street Raleigh, NC 27601-1058 |
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| NewsLink is a publication of the N.C. Department of Commerce Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development |
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