Destination 2028 Accomplishments
Fiscal years 2021–2022 through 2024–2025
GRCVB leadership and staff have logged accomplishments across the eight priorities for fiscal years 2021-2022 through 2024-2025. A summary of strategic recommendations that were gotten underway or were completed for past years follows. The planned implementation of recommendations for the fiscal year ahead is also summarized in the Destination 2028 subsection of visitRaleigh.com.
Fiscal year 2024–2025 implementation
Meetings and Conventions Priority
- GRCVB participated with the City of Raleigh, client focus groups and stakeholder review for the schematic design process for the $387.5 million future Raleigh Convention Center (RCC) expansion and relocation of Red Hat Amphitheater. Final construction design, initial site utility work and final construction timelines to be completed by fall 2025.
- GRCVB participated with the City of Raleigh and hotel consultant in the final negotiations with Omni Hotels & Resorts to build a 600-room, full-service hotel adjacent to the RCC expansion. Provided interlocal funding for this project, Omni has finalized financing for the project that includes a required City booking agreement between the operator and municipality. Groundbreaking is scheduled for quarter three of fiscal year 2026.
- GRCVB Marketing and Communications Department extended partner engagement around destination assets/CVB resources available to the meeting district remaining in final rotation this year (Cary). (In past fiscal years, other meeting districts were engaged and re-oriented on Bureau resources specific to their areas.) The Sales and Destination Services Departments continued to reaffirm their support for all meeting districts countywide through such initiatives as targeted engagement for our full-service meeting hotels countywide and another district-based See For Yourself FAM Tour (Cary) for front-line staff and any partner interested in learning more about attractions, dining and more nearby meeting hotels.
- Prioritization five-year glide-path goals continue to be met by the GRCVB and RCC sales teams specific to citywide conventions, meetings and competitions.
Sports Priority
- Lenovo Center finalized and launched a $300 million, three-year enhancement project that will lead to an additional $800 million mixed-use expansion project encompassing the surrounding arena and Carter-Finley Stadium sites.
- GRCVB/GRSA worked closely with Town of Cary staff on all aspects of The Soccer Tournament (TST) and the inaugural Cary Cup, both as an event sponsor and a host partner. TST’s third year saw record attendance of more than 52,000 at WakeMed Soccer Park.
- GRCVB/GRSA supported North Carolina State University (NCSU) and led the Local Organizing Committee in successfully hosting the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament First and Second Rounds at Lenovo Center. The event was a smashing success by any measure, generating $16.4 million in direct economic impact and more than 20,800 hotel room-nights, with all six games being televised nationally. Up next: Raleigh and NCSU will host the 2028 NCAA Men’s Basketball East Regional (Sweet 16/Elite Eight), marking the first time that our community will host a Regional at Lenovo Center.
- GRCVB/GRSA has worked in partnership with Visit North Carolina and the N.C. Department of Commerce to successfully host two international esports competitions that received post-event production grants of more than $1 million.
- GRCVB/GRSA provided consistent input on the qualifications and distribution of the Major Events, Games and Attractions Fund from the State of North Carolina’s sports wagering income, authorized by the General Assembly.
- GRCVB/GRSA continued to work with municipalities, the private sector and sports event rights-holders on identifying funding, sites and development of proposed major sports venues throughout Wake County.
Events Priority
- GRCVB Signature Event Funds were used to support the return of the Dreamville Music Festival for a fifth year and the launch of the Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival along with bringing the Rocket League Championship Series, an international esports event, to Lenovo Center.
- With a continued focus on signature events for Raleigh and Wake County, the GRCVB began plans to serve on a City of Raleigh music and festival task force to evaluate current special event guidelines and develop strategic plans to attract future signature events.
Key Attractors Priority
- GRCVB continues to align with Dorothea Dix Park leadership on the opening of the Gipson Play Plaza, a major Phase 1 milestone, and provides ongoing measurement resources to City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources for economic impact analysis.
- The North Carolina Museum of History is temporarily closed for three years to go through a major renovation and enhancement of this key attractor. GRCVB continued to communicate with museum leaders on timelines and major development announcements, keeping plans in mind for future communications and promotions about the reopening.
- GRCVB continued to partner with Marbles Kids Museum on their future expansion and enhancement plans for marketing alignment and event curation.
Individual Leisure Priority
- GRCVB and contracted ally People-First Tourism (P1t) Inc. continued to scale up the already successful program of prescheduled experiences as well as custom/group bookables, adding to the inventory of supply especially in Apex, Fuquay-Varina, Knightdale, Wake Forest and Wendell.
- GRCVB worked with unique Wake County culinary and retail partners to successfully host an inaugural summit exploring and refining visitor-targeted content and promotions of related experiences as well as reviewing future opportunities for collaboration, growth, media outreach and sustained business growth.
- GRCVB partnered with Travel South and Visit North Carolina in the creation of MICHELIN Guide: American South, a comprehensive guide including Raleigh, Wake County and North Carolina culinary offerings and that will elevate both domestic and international awareness around our top restaurants and culinary talent.
- GRCVB partnered with the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association and the N.C. Travel and Tourism Coalition and worked with the State of North Carolina General Assembly to ensure the Visit North Carolina budget maintains or increases its budget allocation.
Destination Development Priority
- Worked closely with City of Raleigh and RCC staff on the measurement, positioning and closing of W. South St. to relocate the Red Hat Amphitheater and move the Raleigh Convention Center expansion forward.
- GRCVB Administration Department successfully met with town managers countywide to understand updates to town master plans that may have tourism uses and development opportunities along with updates on the future interlocal RFP process.
Regional Demand Drivers Priority
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GRCVB partnered with RDU Airport Authority and Regional Transportation Alliance leaders in successfully launching four additional international nonstop flights to RDU International Airport via Air Canada and BermudAir.
Quality of Place Priority
- GRCVB provided input with the Regional Transportation Alliance on several regional transportation initiatives, including tolling of Capital Blvd. and Bus Rapid Transit service to RDU.
- GRCVB refreshed brand strategy will continue to guide and reinforce well-aligned marketing, messaging, content and communication across all Bureau departments, in collaboration with municipalities, key attractions and hospitality partners.
- GRCVB continued to partner with Wake County Parks to promote and align on the overall Wake County Comprehensive Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan and promote new assets such as Beech Bluff County Park, a $26 million, 300-acre park located in the southeast corner of Wake County, adjacent to the towns of Garner and Fuquay-Varina.
Fiscal year 2023–2024 implementation
Meetings and Conventions Priority
- GRCVB participated with the City of Raleigh in the final selection of both architectural design firms and general construction contractors for the $387.5 million future Raleigh Convention Center (RCC) expansion and relocation of Red Hat Amphitheater. Initial design, construction and completion timelines have been established.
- GRCVB participated with the City of Raleigh and hotel consultant in the selection of Omni Hotels & Resorts to build a 550-room, full-service hotel adjacent to RCC expansion. Providing Interlocal Funding for this project, a required City booking agreement was finalized with the hotel operator.
- Marketing and Communications Department conducted successful engagements with two of six meeting districts around the county, sharing the destination assets/CVB resources available.
Sports Priority
- GRCVB worked with Town of Cary staff on final design, construction and revised pricing for its indoor sports complex (The Center), and a multi-million-dollar parks and recreation bond will appear on the forthcoming town ballot for substantial necessary public funding.
- GRCVB/GRSA successfully hosted the inaugural Southwest Wake County Parks & Recreation Summit. A facility sports cluster model case study was presented and adopted by the towns of Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs.
- GRCVB/GRSA entered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for countywide parks department cooperation, field standards and aligned level of maintenance with the aforementioned towns of Southwest Wake County.
- GRCVB has worked in partnership with North Carolina State University faculty in the opening of the state-of-the-art NC State Gaming and Esports Lab on Centennial Campus. This temporary facility is the forerunner to a 15,000-square-foot North Carolina State University Esports Production and Performance Center, currently under final design phases on the main campus and scheduled to open by 2026.
- GRCVB was successful in working with Visit North Carolina to extend N.C. Esports Production Grant authorized by the General Assembly to a reoccurring expense line item in future state budgets.
Events Priority
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GRCVB developed partner MOUs and launched annual partner report cards for event economic impact analysis powered via the Bureau’s CRM.
Key Attractors Priority
- GRCVB partnered with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences on marketing and promotions surrounding its new blockbuster exhibit, Dueling Dinosaurs.
- GRCVB continues to align with Dorothea Dix Park leadership on the construction of Phase 1 and provides ongoing measurement resources to City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources for economic impact analysis.
Individual Leisure Priority
- With contracted ally People-First Tourism (P1t) Inc., GRCVB continued expanding the P1t program countywide to all 12 municipalities. The company offered 12+ prescheduled experiences monthly alongside 30 uniquely local experiences made available for custom booking by groups and served 1,600 visitors during 2023-2024. Microentrepreneur earnings reached $60,000, a 71% increase over the previous year.
- During the GRCVB-led destination brand strategy reassessment, Marketing and Communications reengaged area towns as well as area hospitality business partners/entrepreneurs with direct quantitative and qualitative input for future destination brand positioning.
- GRCVB worked with Wake County’s unique culinary and retail options to successfully host a summit exploring and refining visitor-targeted content, promotions of related experiences as well as reviewing future opportunities for collaboration, growth and sustained business climates.
Destination Development Priority
- GRCVB participated in further, ongoing hotel dialogue with developers and major industry cluster leaders for the new biotech campuses in Holly Springs. Proactive participation and engagement align to long-term development objectives for strategic locations countywide.
- GRCVB Administration successfully met with town managers countywide to understand key parcels through town master plans that may have tourism uses and development opportunities.
Regional Demand Drivers Priority
- GRCVB partnered with RDU Authority and Regional Transportation Alliance leaders in successfully launching three additional international non-stop flights to RDU International Airport via Copa Airlines, Aeroméxico and Lufthansa.
- GRCVB Public Relations and International Tourism Department held a successful International Travelers Summit with countywide hotel partners to review and promote international travel objectives, resources and future plans.
Quality of Place Priority
- Marketing and Communications proactively initiated destination brand strategy concepts with a collective of place-marketers representing all area towns during the destination brand strategy reassessment project. We received valuable input and future alignment on implementation.
- GRCVB Administration worked with Wake County Affordable Housing Steering Committee, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, the Raleigh Police Department, the Wake County Hospitality Alliance, the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association, N.C. Department of Transportation and Capital Area Workforce Development on numerous initiatives the tourism industry was able to assist in addressing underhoused resident opportunities.
- GRCVB facilitated connections between the statewide Serving Careers campaign and the local Five Stars Hotel Employment Initiative for training and marketing of hospitality job opportunities for residents in Wake County. The paid efforts of the Serving Careers campaign, which ran Oct.-May, generated 187 million impressions, 2.7 million clicks and 687,084 applications for hotels and restaurants state-wide.
- GRCVB worked closely with the Regional Transportation Alliance to finalize the 540 connection, advance Bus Rapid Transit launch and received federal funding for high-speed rail service from Raleigh to Richmond, Va. Also working on a study to address commuter rail options throughout the region.
Fiscal year 2022–2023 implementation
Meetings and Conventions Priority
The Request for Interest (RFI) for a minimum-500-room, full-service hotel in downtown Raleigh, which was executed anew last year, moved to a Request for Proposals (RFP) process; proposals have been narrowed to three developer submissions, and the City of Raleigh management team and respective City Council Members will select a finalist and determine a final public funding number to come from the Interlocal Fund tax model.
The Raleigh Convention Center (RCC) future focus for expansion continues to move forward; City and County management teams and their respective elected officials will determine a final public funding number to come from the Interlocal Fund tax model as well as determine the timing of an expansion rollout.
GRCVB successfully launched RCC and countywide future pace reporting. This reporting is sent monthly to area hotel partners, RCC and prospective developers for the tracking and measurement of the bookings associated with the group segment for both RCC and countywide hotels.
Sports Priority
PNC Arena design enhancement continues to move forward; City and County management teams and their respective elected officials will determine a final public funding number to come from the Interlocal Fund tax model as well as determine the timing of an enhancement rollout.
After an initial design phase and preliminary pricing for The Center, Cary continues to move forward in advocating to City and County management teams and their respective elected officials for additional funding. Elected leaders will determine a final public funding number to come from the Interlocal Fund tax model as well as determine the timing of a development rollout.
An Esports Production and Performance Center at North Carolina State University continues to move forward through the collaborative work of N.C. State faculty, Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance and private-sector industry leaders. A temporary facility is being launched at James B. Hunt Jr. Library, and RFPs have been posted for development of a full-time facility at Mann Hall on State's main campus, with temporary opening in Sept. 2023 and full facility opening by Late 2024.
Events Priority
The Signature Event Development Pilot Program had another successful year of event support, with funding established through the operating budget of the CVB. Two major, signature events received funding in fiscal year 2023: Dreamville Festival, which grew to 100,000 attendees, and Riot Games' League of Legends LCS Spring Finals, held at PNC Arena.
The CVB continues to use a variety of direct economic impact (EI) measurement tools based on a thorough understanding of destination data platforms, consisting of Arrivalist mobile-device measurement, event host partnerships that share ZIP code data from ticket sales analyses and continued use of Tourism Economics' EI calculators via Destinations International for meetings, sports, festivals and cultural events.
Key Attractors Priority
Dorothea Dix Park kicked off construction of Phase 1 around the Gipson Play Plaza, an inviting and inspiring public space for all ages with one-of-a-kind play spaces, works of art, a civic plaza, fountains and gardens. Features include a sensory maze, water play mountain, swing terrace and adventure playground. This will be the primary entrance along the southwest side of Dix Park and take 27 months to complete.
Individual Leisure Priority
In fiscal year 2023, the CVB Marketing and Communications Department's contracted ally People-First Tourism (P1t) Inc. worked with more than 100 entrepreneurs and promoted 47 active growers, creatives and makers offering experiences; an average of three experiences per week were placed on the P1t calendar, part of a redesigned website implementation that promoted timed event experiences as well as anytime "bookables." So far, P1t entrepreneurs have presented experiences in nearly 30 venues around Wake County. Joint advertising and promotional efforts resulted in 1,262 purchases during last fiscal year.
Destination Development Priority
Hotel development continues to remain strong with key openings of properties throughout Wake County and especially in strategic City of Raleigh districts. Some specific pre-development, proposed properties could align well with certain hotel types and key land parcels of municipal master plans.
Regional Demand Drivers Priority
RDU International Airport saw a travel spike in fiscal year 2023 exceeding 2019 by 6%. RDU is the fastest-growing airport in the country based on the year-over-year number of airline seats available to book; there were 190,000 more seats available on RDU flights in July 2023 than there were in July 2022. RDU is now served by 15 airlines flying from 64 nonstop destinations.
Quality of Place Priority
The CVB continued aligning with AWAKE: Cultural Paths, a project that brings the countywide greenways and cultural arts communities into the tourism digital ecosystem through forthcoming activation on the Bandwango platform and visitRaleigh.com. A prototype passport trail will be shared with a variety of Wake County content partners to, in turn, drive visitation to the greenway system from both area residents and area visitors alike.
Fiscal year 2021–2022 implementation
Meetings and Conventions Priority
Worked with elected officials and municipal staff to execute a new Request for Interest (RFI) for a minimum-500-room, full-service hotel in downtown Raleigh and a visioning study for a Raleigh Convention Center expansion; also worked with the City of Raleigh and JLL to conduct a refresh study about the Meetings and Conventions Priority, in light of the full-service downtown convention hotel RFI and convention center expansion vision. The Convention Sales Department implemented targeted engagement for full-service meeting hotels including making hotel visits in all Wake County meeting districts; meanwhile the Marketing and Communications Department prepared a group marketing presentation to be delivered for all districts' full-service meeting hotels in 2022-2023.
Sports Priority
Developed a strategy for municipal engagement that will result in a memo of understanding between parks and recreation directors in Wake County outlining minimum tourism standards for sports venues and a shared commitment to leverage our capital assets by working together to strategically market venues and co-host events whenever applicable. Worked with partners, municipal staffs and elected officials on reengagement for PNC Arena enhancement design and concepts and the selection of a design firm for the indoor sports complex to be built in Cary.
Successfully worked with N.C. Rep. Jason Saine (R-Lincoln) and the General Assembly to launch the N.C. Esports Production Grant, part of the state budget funded at $5 million annually for the next three years. An additional one-time appropriation from the General Assembly was passed at $16 million for an Esports Production and Performance Facility and a mobile truck unit for the UNC System Schools, housed at North Carolina State University, which will bring esports activations to all of North Carolina.
Events Priority
Successfully relaunched the Signature Event Development Pilot Program with two major events: moved the Dreamville Festival to a two-day event and secured the first esports event for PNC Arena (Apex Legends Global Series Year 2 Championship). Successfully launched the CVB's Economic Impact Calculator for events, sports competitions and festivals whose results our countywide stakeholders and communities can access for evaluation of tourism projects and “highest and best use” of public funding. Reinstated database contractors to assist our area hospitality partners in updating their calendared events in PIXL or the destination database.
Key Attractors Priority
Continued to track the development and prospective installation of the Dueling Dinosaurs exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and partner to promote post-pandemic new developments coming online at Marbles Kids Museum, the North Carolina Museum of Art and North Carolina Museum of History. The Bureau administration team continued to engage with the development process and prospective groundbreaking of Phase 1 at Dorothea Dix Park, with the aim of incorporating tourism drivers into the park plan wherever possible.
Individual Leisure Priority
The Marketing and Communications Department continued to ally with People-First Tourism (P1t) Inc. for the curation and sale of unique experiences that further drive overnight stays from visitors through company- and CVB-fueled marketing. Last year's destination stewardship/sales effort included more recruitment of tourism microentrepreneurs (in Apex, Raleigh, Zebulon and unincorporated areas of the county), a jumpstart of post-pandemic bookings overall, organization of experiences with set dates/times and the creation of p1experiences.com. A seasonal project started in May 2022 to extend P1t’s efforts into Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs, Rolesville and southeast Raleigh specifically.
Destination Development Priority
Continued to engage with municipal and private-sector leaders on the usage and development of key land parcels through Wake County towns' master plans and tourism-related (hotel) development opportunities.
Regional Demand Drivers Priority
With the planned resumption of RDU International Airport's international flights post-pandemic, developed new or revised strategies for Wake County's international tourism market through relationships with airlines, with the airport staff and with Visit North Carolina. Continued to engage with academic thought leadership directly at Meredith College and N.C. State University and through a new relationship formed with the Cooperating Raleigh Colleges consortium.
Quality of Place Priority
Laid groundwork for the creation of Wake County's first Quality of Place Summit with potential stakeholders/co-presenters at the Raleigh Chamber and in traditional economic development. With GRCVB's endorsement, the local organization AWAKE held exploratory meetings throughout the county about developing a one-of-a-kind, high-profile event/public art activation that could address the Destination Strategic Plan's recommendation on the development of iconic features as well as the recommendation to better coordinate park/greenway activations countywide.