Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau

We're excited to share that the Town of Cary, along with its host partners, has announced an expanded partnership with the NCAA! This agreement ensures: • Another decade of Division II Baseball National Championships • Four more years of Division I Women’s and Men’s Soccer College Cups Building on the recent award of six championships for the 2026-2028 seasons, this extension solidifies Cary’s position as a premier host for NCAA events through 2038. Read more:

We're thrilled to share that GRCVB won *four* awards at the 2024 N.C. Travel Industry Association (NCTIA) Leadership Conference this week 🎉   Several members of GRCVB's staff and its agency Avenir Bold attended the conference, where each year the NCTIA presents its Tourism Achievement Awards to honor and showcase innovation, best practices, creativity and results accomplished through our industry’s attraction-level and destination-level marketing efforts.   GRCVB was honored with the following awards:   • Best of Show, overall (for best exemplifying complete packages of innovation, creativity and results across our award submissions); • Platinum for our 2023-2024 “Let’s Make It Happen” leisure campaign video advertising in the Leisure Marketing category; • Platinum for GRSA’s latest sports destination overview video in the Group Visitors category; • Platinum for our illustrated Sales tradeshow booth in the Convention Marketing category.   Read more at our Tourism Talk blog here: https://lnkd.in/eSDGCNwa

We're proud to share that GRCVB was named a 2024 Platinum Choice Award Winner by Smart Meetings! The award recognizes CVBs, destinations and venues that demonstrate a commitment to excellence by continuing to reinvent themselves, exceeding expectations and anticipating meeting attendee needs; they lead the way in gathering, nourishing and celebrating attendees. Thank you to our incredible GRCVB team and to our hospitality partners for helping us achieve this! Read more here:

We're celebrating three anniversaries at GRCVB in December! Congratulations to Tammy, ☀Marc and Kathryn 🎉

Big news! GRCVB and the Greater Raleigh Esports Local Organizing Committee are proud to announce that ESL FACEIT Group - EFG has selected Raleigh, N.C., to host the ESL One 2025 esports tournament at the Raleigh Convention Center, April 7-13, 2025. The event will mark the first return of ESL One to the U.S. in more than six years!

The N.C. Travel & Tourism Board of Directors appointed GRCVB president and CEO Dennis Edwards as its new chair, effective Jan. 2025. The N.C. Travel & Tourism Board advocates for sound development of the travel and tourism industry in N.C. Read more here:

This month we're celebrating two anniversaries at GRCVB! Congratulations to Michael and Carly 🎉

Exciting news: GRCVB has won ConventionSouth Media Group's Annual Readers' Choice Award! This honor reflects our team's dedication to making Raleigh, N.C., a top destination for events and unforgettable experiences. Check out our press release for more information: https://lnkd.in/eiXguHZM

The U.S. Travel Association joined U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, GRCVB and local business leaders for a “#TravelWorks for America” Power Hour at the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority offices last week on Oct. 24. The discussion focused on travel’s essential contributions to the region’s businesses, workforce and economy—tourism plays a vital role in Raleigh and Wake County’s economy, with visitors spending over $3.2 billion, generating $307 million in tax revenue and supporting 25,796 jobs in 2023. The Power Hour agenda included critical topics to the travel industry, such as:  • preparing for the upcoming decade of major sporting events; • the need to lower wait times for first-time visitor visa applicants, currently facing 260+ day wait times, on average, in key inbound markets; • reducing wait times for travelers at U.S. Customs at gateway airports; • the need to permanently expand the H-2B worker visa program, which provides temporary workers to support small and seasonal business; • and airport funding for non-airline-hub airports in high-growth markets. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eCV8zxkT

Big news! Today, the NCAA announced the future championship host sites spanning academic years 2026-27 and 2027-28. Raleigh will host its first-ever NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Regional in 2028, and Cary will host six national championship events across three sports. North Carolina State University will host the following championships: • 2027 Division I Women’s Gymnastics Regional at Reynolds Coliseum • 2028 Division I Men’s Basketball Regional at Lenovo Center Town of Cary will host the following national championships: • 2026 and 2027 Division I Women’s Soccer College Cups at WakeMed Soccer Park (host: UNC) • 2026 and 2027 Division I Men’s Soccer College Cups at WakeMed Soccer Park (host: UNC) • 2027 and 2028 Division II Baseball World Series at USA Baseball National Training Complex (host: UMO) Read more below!