greater raleigh convention and visitors bureau

Annual Report
2010-2011

greater raleigh convention and visitors bureau annual report 2010-2011 letter from the chairman

Letter from Chairman Ken Crockett

he Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (GRCVB) is pleased to present the 20102011 Annual Report, which is once again an online report, in keeping with the areas commitment to green sustainability.
year of increase

The 20102011 year was a game changer for the travel and tourism industries in Wake County. While other areas of the economy languished, visitation to Wake County increased by 8.6 percent. Hotel occupancy tax collections increased by 14.8 percent over 2009-2010 to total $14.9 million (a new record), and prepared food and beverage tax collections increased by 4.8 percent over 2009-2010 to total $18 million (again a new record). Also, the direct economic impact of GRCVB-assisted conventions, meetings and sports events held in the county reached $121 millionmeaning that Wake County continued to enjoy a 35-to-1 return on investment of the inter-local tax dollars invested in GRCVB.
all - star hospitality

when the entire Wake County hospitality community worked together to showcase how dynamic and celebratory our area really is. The eyes of the world were on the Raleigh area, and we successfully proved that we are a destination that can host large-scale events in every way, from event marketing to hotel and restaurant sales to visitor services.
game change

an all - star destination

In January, the Raleigh area hosted what is considered to be the most successful NHL All-Star Weekend in hockey history. Through the weekends events, the Bureau showcased the Raleigh area to an international audience, garnered an unprecedented $49 million dollars in ad value of media exposure, welcomed more than 138,000 fans and spectators and calculated $11.4 million in direct visitor spending. January 2011 also will be remembered as a time

Throughout the past five years and a $3 billion destination transformation, the Raleigh area has continually improved and added to its tourism product, and it is now able to rival larger cities in both leisure and business offerings. Completed projects such as: Terminal 2 at RDU International Airport, the Contemporary Art Museum (CAM Raleigh), the new North Carolina Museum of Art, the Raleigh Amphitheater, Raleigh Convention Center and numerous hotels, as well as current projects, including the Nature Research Center at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, a redeveloped Terminal 1 at RDU and a new Gregg Museum of Art and Design at N.C. State University only add to the desirability of our area. These new tourism offerings, partnered with GRCVBs aggressive recruitment efforts on all sizes of meetings business, sports events/tournaments and leisure travel, have played a huge role in the Raleigh area welcoming 10.72 million visitors and exceeding $1.5 billion in direct visitor spending in calendar year 2010.

We have another exciting year ahead of us and continue to build on the momentum of Greater Raleigh being an all-star destination. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank the Wake County Board of Commissioners, Raleigh City Council, Cary Town Council, Centennial Authority, Raleigh Convention Center, The Conference Table and all local hospitality sector and allied businesses for their continued support of GRCVBs mission. Kenneth R. Crockett 20102011 Chairman, GRCVB Board of Directors Owner, Winston Hospitality

Cover photo by Bryan Regan

a special thank you ...

The GRCVB Board and staff extend special thanks to two board members who completed their terms during fiscal year 2010-2011:
David W. Strong (2005-2011) Dale Whitworth (2005-2011) 2010-2011
board of directors

greater raleigh is ...

Joel C. Fuller General Manager Raleigh Marriott Crabree Valley Kenneth B. Howard Director North Carolina Museum of History Melanie Davis Jones Director of Marketing North Carolina Museum of Art Jim McGovern General Manager Angus Barn Barry F. Mitsch Vice President The Pyramid Resource Group, Inc.

Wake County Apex Cary Fuquay-Varina Garner Holly Springs Knightdale Morrisville Raleigh Rolesville Wake Forest Wendell Zebulon
internationally accredited

Chairman

Kenneth R. Crockett Owner Winston Hospitality

Vice Chairman

Ian W.G. Sauer Vice President of Operations Summit Hospitality Group, Ltd.

liaisons

Secretary

Phil Zachary President and COO Curtis Media Group

Wake County Board of Commissioners Liaison

Joe Bryan Wake County Commissioner

This Destination Marketing Organization is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program of the Destination Marketing Association International, 2025 M St., N.W., Ste. 500, Washington, D.C., 20036, U.S.A., Ph. 202.296.7888.
about the greater raleigh convention and visitors bureau mission

Treasurer

Bill Gant General Manager Raleigh Renaissance at North Hills

Raleigh City Council Liaison

Bonner Gaylord Raleigh City Council Member

Immediate Past Chairman

David W. Strong President, Rex Healthcare

Centennial Authority Liaison

Judi Grainger Fair Products, Inc.

Convention Center Liaison

board

Steven Bauld General Manager, Harrison Global Marty Clayton Manager of Community Relations Progress Energy

Roger Krupa Director, Raleigh Convention Center

Town of Cary Liaison

The Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, as the official destination marketing organization of Raleigh and Wake County, accelerates sustainable economic growth and development by increasing visitor and convention business.
organization vision

Jack W. Smith Council Member, Town of Cary

To be the prime visitor advocate and regional leader of destination marketing and product development.

greater raleigh convention and visitors bureau annual report 2010-2011 sales

Sales attracting conventions

exceeded goal cmp status

and meetings to Greater Raleigh

click to see photos

Conducted more than 100 site visits with potential clients, produced 473 leads and brought over 104,000 definite room-nights to Wake County. The direct economic impact for this business reached $75 million, which exceeded the 20102011 goal of $53 million by 42 percent.
industry events

Two members of Sales achieved the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) certification in 2010 2011, bringing total CMPs on the team to three. CMP is the foremost certification of the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry, recognizing individuals who have achieved the industrys highest standard of professionalism.
local meeting planners

2011. GRCVB and partners called on seven clients and hosted a group lunch along with an evening happy hour networking event during the two-day mission.
multicultural stakeholders

Participated in over 300 industry-associated events including chapter, board and committee meetings and tradeshows, increasing the visibility and profile of Greater Raleigh in all markets. The team also had Sales Department representation at every partner event in the area.
associations

Hosted 40 local area meeting planners in July 2010 for a lunch and learn. Promoted CVB 101 and educated the group on how to be a greater part of the tourism economy by being a local connector.
health care professionals

Hosted GRCVBs first Multicultural Community Stakeholders Reception focusing on the AfricanAmerican and minority leadership in Wake County. The event included honoring leaders who were influential in bringing the largest event that the RCC has hosted since opening in 2008 and educating fellow leaders of the community on how to best partner with the Bureau to bring other multicultural conferences and events to the area.
golf tournament

Stayed very active and involved in many industry associations: four MPI Chapters, ASAE & The Center, Association Executives of North Carolina (AENC), Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), Religious Conference Management Association, Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP) and N.C. Chapter SGMP. All Sales Department members are serving on industry association boards and committees, and the Sales teams presence has increased in the Northeast market by becoming more involved in PCMAs Greater Philadelphia Chapter.

Hosted the Society of Nuclear Medicines Health Professions Network Fall Meeting, in partnership with the Raleigh Convention Center (RCC), Raleigh Marriott City Center (RMCC) and Sheraton Raleigh Hotel (SRH), bringing 30 key decision-makers from health care professional associations to Raleigh for three days. This gave a chance to show them several off-site meeting venues, along with the downtown convention center campus.
sales mission

Hosted the AENC Annual Golf Tournament in May 2011, the first time in six years this event was held in Raleigh.
green meetings

Organized a Washington, D.C., sales mission with partners from the RCC, RMCC and SRH in March

Attended, for the first time, the Green Meetings Industry Council Sustainable Meetings Conference in Portland, Ore.,increasing our areas profile among groups interested in planning sustainable meetings.

greater raleigh convention and visitors bureau annual report 2010-2011 services

Services serving conventions,

exceeded goal

sports groups and individual visitors

click to see photos

Serviced 446 groups in 20102011, exceeding a goal of 425 groups by four percent.
customer service

new VIC is located in the connector space between the Raleigh Convention Center and Raleigh Marriott City Center, downtown Raleigh.
department expansion

Achieved a post-event survey response rate of 50 percent against a 20102011 goal of 30 percent, with an overall customer satisfaction average of 4.4 on a five-point scale (against a goal of 3.5). This helped assure a standard of excellent customer service for the destination.
direct requests

Expanded the Services Department in January 2011 by adding Gray Henderson as convention services coordinator. Hendersons role is to assist arriving groups, primarily focusing on groups that book directly with hotels (during 2010-2011, the Bureau serviced 237 of groups in this category).
celebrate services day

2011, hosted the annual GRCVB Tourism Ambassador recognition and training program, with nearly 50 ambassadors in attendance. Ambassadors annually contribute more than 700 volunteer hours to the Bureaus Services Department.
industry convention

Tammy Jeffries represented GRCVB at the ACOM Annual Conference in January 2011. Jeffries, the Bureaus convention services manager, also was involved in the planning process for the conference by serving on the Hospitality Committee.

Responded to 5,588 direct requests for information at GRCVBs Visitor Information Center, exceeding a 2010-2011 goal of 3,500 inquiries by 59 percent.
record - setting convention

Hosted the largest convention group in the history of GRCVB during the week of July 22-30, 2010, with the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. 76th International Grand Conclave. Omegas brought the community an estimated 8,000 attendees and utilized 5,173 room-nights in the official host hotels.
new visitor information center

Participated in the Association for Convention Operations Managements (ACOMs) first-ever Celebrate Services Day on September 16, 2010. GRCVB is a member of ACOM, and the purpose of the new event is to promote and elevate the important role of services managers, who help successful meetings and conventions happen all around the U.S. GRCVB hosted a networking breakfast for convention services colleagues around the community.
tourism ambassadors program

Perennial favorite Animazement made a return trip to the Raleigh Convention Center. 2011 marked Animazements third event in Raleigh.

Opened the new Greater Raleigh Visitor Information Center (VIC) in September 2010. The

Continued to develop GRCVBs Tourism Ambassadors program as a strong and important part of Red Carpet Welcome Services. In January

greater raleigh convention and visitors bureau annual report 2010-2011 marketing

Marketing promoting the Raleigh

area to leisure visitors and others
website microsites click to see photos promotional co - op

Served 7.2 million page-views across 1.2 million visits to the areas official tourism site, visitRaleigh. com, in 20102011. Grew the website consumer database to more than 66,000 opt-in recipients, past inquirers and visitors, with which GRCVB remarkets the destination monthly.
video gallery

Added 56 destination video segments to the awardwinning video.visitraleigh.com, giving potential visitors a fresh look at the area and its brand. Also deployed a Greater Raleigh YouTube channel to provide a video-based overview of the destination to potential visitors using this search engine.
so much to see !

Launched three other microsites during 20102011: a sustainable tourism webpage filled with green facts and resources about the Raleigh area (already viewed by 2,800 convention and meeting planners and visitors), the Jolly Raleigh Holiday microsite featuring special holiday events for every travel personality (consulted 5,400 times) and the D.I.Y. Raleigh Meeting Planners Toolbox, which offers customers the ability to book small group (five to 25 rooms) meetings, reunions, weddings, weekend getaways etc. easily online with area hotel partners.
iphone app

Spearheaded a fall co-op promotion with 10 local partners and the N.C. Division of Tourism, which included print and online exposure with AirTran Airways GO Magazine and sweepstakes exposure on visitnc.coms homepage in September/October 2010.
updated research

Updated Greater Raleighs visitor profile and visitor volume estimates through calendar year 2010 with reporting from national research vendor D.K. Shifflet & Associates.
cat bus guide

Promoted a new visitRaleigh.com microsite titled So much to see! to coincide with the arrival of new Official Visitors Guides. This companion site to the award-winning Visitors Guide helped more than 78,000 leisure-oriented visitors plan their trips by presenting area travel information according to destination I.D.s.

Deployed a visit Raleigh iPhone app and mobile website to distribute official information to visitors on the go in the Raleigh area.
advertising

Worked with Capital Area Transit to develop a specialty bus guide for visitors easy access to Cameron Village and Crabtree Valley Mall from downtown Raleighs convention campus.
staff hires

Advertised the destination to leisure, group sales and sports markets, despite significant budget reductions due to the general economic recession and nationwide decline in travel. Made the most of co-op, remnant space and trade opportunities to keep ads running in key media.

Filled two vacated positions with new hires. Both destination database coordinator Michael Robson and tourism marketing manager Nolan Garner serve local partners in their new roles.

greater raleigh convention and visitors bureau annual report 2010-2011 communications

Communications telling the story

through public relations strategies
press trips click to see photos

Hosted 42 media events/press trips/individual media visits to Greater Raleigh and traveled to Germany, Chicago, New York City and Charlotte, N.C., for desk-side pitches. Many of these efforts resulted in big hits including Successful Meetings, Womans Day Magazine, Southern Living, Delta SKY magazine and The New York Times.
news releases

Committee and played a vital role in coordination of all aspects of more than 400+ journalists in attendance for NHL All-Star Weekend. Responsible for writing and distributing destination collateral materials to media, writing editorial for the Official Program of the NHL All-Star Game and calculating the $49 million in worldwide media coverage value.
mom s nite out

television interviews, placing feature stories and developing targeted media lists.

Wrote 29 news releases and distributed them to appropriate, targeted media outlets locally, regionally and nationally. Releases focused on topics ranging from Bureau accomplishments to increased occupancy rates to leisure topics coinciding with the So much to see! marketing campaign.
journalist outreach

Partnered with the National Moms Nite Out organization to host an event in Raleigh targeting qualified, statewide social media influencers within the family market. The event was broadcasted live to more than one million Moms Nite Out participants nationwide and was covered in real time on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and streaming video.
editorial writing

Proactively reached out to journalists covering a variety of segments including: general travel, sports, meetings and conventions, culinary, family, arts and outdoors. Continued to foster current media relationships.
nhl all - star media

Wrote editorial and feature articles for marketing programs including: the Official Visitors Guide to Raleigh, Cary and Wake County and So much to see! microsite.
planner assistance

The Communications Department hosted North Carolina Social Media Moms as part of National Moms Nite Out. Attendees were treated to an evening at Solas highlighting the seven Destination I.D.s.

Served on the NHL All-Star Media Relations

Assisted numerous meeting and convention planners in local public relations efforts, including securing

greater raleigh convention and visitors bureau annual report 2010-2011 sports marketing

Sports Marketing drawing

sporting events to the area
nhl all - star weekend click to see photos

Worked closely with the Carolina Hurricanes and other community partners to host the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) All-Star Weekend, one of the largest and most successful events in the history of Raleigh and Wake County. Hosting of NHL All-Star Weekend produced the following numbers for Greater Raleigh: $11.4 million in direct visitor spending; $49 million in media value worldwide (Source: The Meltwater Group); More than 10,500 hotel room-nights; 18,900 visitors to Wake County; and, 138,000 total attendance at All-Star Weekend events. In addition, the NHL reported record numbers and statistical increases across the board for 2011 AllStar Weekend, including TV ratings, sponsorship revenue, retail sales, website traffic and social media activity. The success of NHL All-Star Weekend led to positively glowing reviews of Greater Raleigh from NHL officials, players, media members and visitors from around the world.
event bookings

55 event bookings during fiscal year 201011. Those events were expected to generate more than 107,000 hotel room-nights and more than $44 million in direct visitor spending throughout Wake County. Key assisted bookings included the 2012 NCAA Womens Basketball Regional, the 2012 U.S. Gymnastics Mens Region 8 Championship and the 2011 U.S. Lacrosse Regional Festival and Qualifier.
lacrosse

Association National Campus Championships, multiple events at the USA Baseball National Training Center, five Atlantic Coast Conference championships (mens and womens soccer, mens and womens tennis, womens lacrosse) and 12 NCHSAA state championshipsmore than any other city in North Carolina.
national soccer series

Hosted the ACC Womens Lacrosse Championship, the NCHSAA mens and womens state lacrosse championships and the U.S. Lacrosse Regional Festival and Qualifier, which attracted more than 50 boys and girls teams from throughout the nation, as the sport of lacrosse continued to emerge as one of the fastest growing markets for Greater Raleigh. The U.S. Lacrosse event alone generated more than 1,900 hotel room-nights and $450,000 in direct visitor spending.
other key events

GRCVB and the Capital Area Soccer League (CASL) agreed to a three-year extension of their partnership for the CASL visitRaleigh.com National Soccer Series (NSS). The agreement now runs through the 2013 event. The first three years of the partnership (20082010) resulted in more than $26 million in direct visitor spending and more than 90,000 total hotel room-nights. NSS is the largest youth sporting event ever held in the Triangle, attracting more than 1,000 teams annually.
trade show representation

GRCVBs Sports Marketing Department assisted with

Helped host or support the following key events in 20102011: the NCAA Womens College Cup (soccer), NCAA Baseball Division II World Series, PONY Softball Fastpitch Nationals, Mid-Atlantic Power League Volleyball Tournament, Deep South Classic (girls basketball), Black Heritage National Championship Swim Meet, United States Tennis

Promoted Greater Raleigh and its sports venues at the following national tradeshows: U.S. Aquatics Sports, USOC Sportslink, TEAMS, AAU, Amateur Softball Association of America, USSSA, American Baseball Coaches Association, U.S. Lacrosse, U.S. Youth Soccer Association Annual Workshop and the National Association of Sports Commissions.

greater raleigh convention and visitors bureau annual report 2010-2011 administration and support

leading and supporting the destinations development

online travel company tax local education

Administration and Support

Worked with several state tourism organizations toward the North Carolina General Assemblys passage of the Online Travel Company tax law. This new law gives Wake County the ability to collect additional sales and occupancy taxes annually.
new bus routes from rdu

Executive team spoke to 30 different organizations about the GRCVBs mission and tourism in Wake County.
retaining red hat

with statewide and national organizations. This involvement ensures that Wake County industry issues are being addressed and management, sales and marketing strategies are following national trends.
partnership with celito

Worked with the Triangle Transit Authority to develop routes and begin direct express bus service between RDU and downtown Raleighs Moore Square Transit Station.
voluntourism program

Assisted Wake County Economic Development staff with a presentation that retained Red Hats corporate headquarters status in Wake County.
economic development boards

Designed and launched the GRCVB voluntourism program. This program supports the Raleigh and Wake County Partnership to End and Prevent Homelessness and connects convention and meeting attendees with community outreach initiatives and volunteer opportunities.
panhandling ordinances

GRCVB representatives began to serve on the Wake County Economic Development board of directors and the City of Raleighs Economic Development Advisory Group.
municipality relationships

Partnered with Celito for placement of LCD TVs at the Greater Raleigh Visitor Information Center offering electronic banners and continuously updated listings of visitor information.
updated marketing platform

Updated GRCVBs Distributed Marketing Platform to a new look and feel for better user experience and enhanced productivity.

Worked with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, Raleigh Police Department and the Raleigh City Council to create stronger city ordinances that address panhandling in Raleigh.

Met with several municipal and chamber leaders throughout Wake County to learn the latest developments in their communities and to educate these leaders on the GRCVB mission, marketing programs and sales initiatives.
other key events

Executive and Administration/IT staff continued to serve on boards, committees and retain memberships

Business Plan
Review our 2011-2012 business plan online at:

www.visitRaleigh.com/partners/business_plan/

Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau

421 Fayetteville Street, Suite 1505 Raleigh, North Carolina 27601-2995 919.834.5900 800.849.8499 919.831.2887 fax www.visitRaleigh.com