Tag Archives: NC Travel News

North Carolina State of the State Address 2013

Published in Asheville Attractions on March 11, 2013

RALEIGH, North Carolina — Feb. 18 — Following is the prepared text of Gov. Pat McCrory’s (R) 2013 State of the State Address:

About five weeks ago, when I was being sworn in as governor, and they called me “Your Excellency,” both my wife and I looked behind us to see who they were talking about.

What an honor this is to be here tonight in this beautiful chamber.

Mr. Speaker, Lieutenant Governor, Mr. President Pro Tem, Governor Martin, who I think is in the audience. Please give a round of applause for Governor Martin. He’s been a mentor, and a friend, and a next door neighbor.

Members of the court, members of the General Assembly, and I also must recognize eight very, very hard working people during the last six weeks, and even before that. People who are making tremendous sacrifice working for state government along with many of you, and that is my Cabinet.

I’d like all eight members of my Cabinet and my other members of my staff to please stand up, you’re doing an outstanding job, and I’m proud to have you be a part of our team. Thank you very much. Aldona, this is the earliest I’ve seen you out

Article source: http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/article/139703587/7b2910f9 If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Tagged: No Comments

Tourism Partnership sets Very Surry guide

Published in Asheville Attractions on March 10, 2013

pJessica Johnson | The News/ppBurke Robertson, chairman of the Tourism Partnership of Surry County, shows group members the cover for the new Very Surry visitors guide, which will launch in May./p

Jessica Johnson | The News

Burke Robertson, chairman of the Tourism Partnership of Surry County, shows group members the cover for the new “Very Surry” visitor’s guide, which will launch in May.

slideshow

DOBSON — The Tourism Partnership of Surry County on Monday set the launch of a new “Very Surry” visitor’s guide for May.

The partnership continues to work directly with a graphic designer Jennifer Scott, who designed a cover for the visitor’s guide which featured an autumn photograph of the knob of Pilot Mountain in the foreground with Hanging Rock and Sauratown Mountain in the background.

Several members remarked that the guide is

Article source: http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/article/140171190/7b2910f9 If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Tagged: No Comments

Film locations try to capitalize as a tourism destinations

Published in Asheville Attractions on March 10, 2013

They’re hardly qualities on which to hang tourism hopes, but the lure of locally filmed movies and TV shows often can be transcendent.

Although Hollywood is a valuable travel agent, there’s no one method to capitalize on it, state and local tourism officials say.

Marketing some locally filmed productions can be difficult, thanks to inaccessible locations – think NBC’s “Revolution” – or spoiler-phobic filmmakers – like Marvel Studios, the company behind “Iron Man 3.”

Not to mention, a series may be axed after two episodes or a movie could be a box-office bomb.

Plus, North Carolina tourism groups, including the state’s Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development, do not allot separate funds in their budgets to spend on advertising for niche markets like film, tourism officials say.

“Most of our efforts are PR, but our budget isn’t large enough to break out specific funds just for those niche markets alone,” said Wilmington and Beaches Convention Visitors Bureau President and CEO Kim Hufham. “Currently, there’s no way for us to formally track why people visit, and hotels don’t poll people to see why they’re in the region. We do know that many of our visitors are aware of our reputation as Hollywood East, but

Article source: http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/article/140722410/7b2910f9 If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Tagged: No Comments

North Carolina High School Fishing State Championship Set For April 20

Published in Asheville Attractions on March 9, 2013

(Feb. 27, 2013 – PONCA CITY, OK.)…

The Bass Federation (TBF), in partnership with FLW and Vance County Tourism Development Authority announced today it will host the 2013 Student Angler Federation (SAF) North Carolina High School Fishing State Championship on Saturday, April 20. The event will be held in Vance County on Kerr Lake in Henderson, N.C., launching out of Nutbush Park.

The state championship is a two person team event for students in grades 9-12. Registration for anglers and their “coach,” who will provide the boat they compete in, is online at HighSchoolFishing.org. Check-in is from 6:30am to 8pm EST on Friday, April 19 at the Quality Inn in Henderson, N.C., with a mandatory rules briefing to follow at 8pm EST. We highly encourage all teams to pre-register online or by phone in advance to avoid late registration fees.

“The Vance County Tourism Development Authority is excited about hosting the North Carolina High School Fishing State Championship at The New Nutbush Ramp on Kerr Lake,” Executive Director at Vance County Tourism Development Authority, Nancy Wilson, stated.”April is a perfect time of the year to fish Kerr. We welcome the opportunity to host the tournament and look forward

Article source: http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/article/140742312/7b2910f9 If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Tagged: No Comments

Area attracts tourism pros

Published in Asheville Attractions on March 8, 2013

Staff photo by Joshua Curry 

The 2013 North Carolina Governor’s Conference on Tourism will be held March 10-12, at the Wilmington Convention Center

Between 500 and 600 tourism professionals from across North Carolina will descend on the Cape Fear region Sunday, March 10, for the annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism. 

Held each year at a location on the coast, in the Piedmont or in the mountains, the conference serves as a chance for tourism and marketing professionals from the state’s different destinations to discuss the collective marketing of the state of North Carolina.  

On Tuesday, March 5, Wit Tuttell, director of tourism marketing for the North Carolina Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development, said the timing of the conference comes at a strategic point in the year for local tourism development agencies. 

“We do it in March because

Article source: http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/article/140286394/7b2910f9 If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Tagged: No Comments

Making tourism sustainable as economic development

Published in Asheville Attractions on March 8, 2013

Fri03082013

Article source: http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/article/140210761/7b2910f9 If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Tagged: No Comments

Beach-driving plan no harm to tourism

Published in Asheville Attractions on March 8, 2013

The Virginian-Pilot
© March 8, 2013

Communities on the Outer Banks have taken serious hits in the past year, including major storm damage, repeated shoaling at Oregon Inlet and, most recently, disruption of ferry service vital to Ocracoke Island.

But one of the most feared events – implementation of the National Park Service’s rules for beach driving early last year – didn’t create the havoc that many critics had predicted.

According to the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, gross occupancy receipts hit an all-time high of $382 million last year, with figures for December still pending. Receipts for Hatteras Island – where opponents of the beach rules anticipated ruin – reached $106.5 million during the first 11 months, up 7.9 percent over 2011.

Business also was booming at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, where the number of visitors topped 2.4 million – up from roughly 2.1 million the previous year.

For the wildlife protected by the beach driving rules, it was a very good year. Eleven piping plover chicks survived long enough to learn to fly, and the National Park Service recorded 222 sea turtle nests – a record for the national seashore.

Despite these encouraging signs, U.S. Rep. Walter Jones – a Republican whose

Article source: http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/article/140521441/7b2910f9 If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Tagged: No Comments