When English poet William Cowper penned his oft-quoted line in 1785, "Variety’s the very spice of life that gives it all its flavor," North Carolina was still four years away from statehood and certainly not the subject of the author’s words. Yet centuries later, the sentiment fits the Tar Heel State on many levels.
Home to the Blue Ridge Mountains, Great Smoky Mountains and 300 miles of Atlantic Coast, geographic diversity spans the entire state, while its main cities blend everything from historic architecture to modern arts and culture.
For day trippers, there are nearly 500 public golf courses across the state, including the renowned Pinehurst course, while next year marks the 75th year anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the state’s biggest draws.
The Heartland
As the state’s largest city, Charlotte is a business magnet. Though the city continues to grow, it avoids some of the challenges of other metropolitan areas.
"We’re still fortunate to be one of those very safe and clean cities, so people feel comfortable walking in downtown Charlotte at night," says Mike Butts, executive director of Visit Charlotte.
Charlotte’s leisure options continue to evolve. One component is the Wachovia First Street Cultural Campus, set for completion in 2010, which will include The Harvey B Gantt Center for African American Arts & Culture and the Mint Museum, as well as Knight Theater and Bechtler Art Museum, which will feature 20th century works.
Another attraction creating a buzz is the NASCAR Hall of Fame, which is readying for its spring 2010 debut.
This year marked the opening of the 175-room aloft Charlotte Uptown at the EpiCentre in the city’s new EpiCentre complex located four blocks from the Charlotte Convention Center. The complex features a movie theater, bowling alley, restaurants, shopping and nightlife options. The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte also debuted in October with 146 guest rooms and 12,000 square feet of meeting space.
Butts also notes an expansion of the Charlotte Douglas International Airport to be completed next year, including an additional runway, which will help build on its current rate of 600 flights a day. All the changes are helping lure groups.
"We put more focus on smaller meetings last year and our small meetings have grown, which is very against the trend in almost everybody else’s environment," Butts says. "The other trend is that our long-term pace has improved. I think most people are not seeing that, but we seem to be making up some ground in that area."
For off-site options, Charlotte offers the Levine Museum of the New South and the hands-on Discovery Place. The Bank of America Stadium, home to the NFL Carolina Panthers, is also available to groups.
Among the city’s largest meetings hotels are the Hilton Charlotte Center City, Westin Charlotte, Charlotte Marriott City Center and the Omni Charlotte.
The Triangle, or Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, is a magnet for science and tech groups. It is home to renowned Research Triangle Park and numerous campuses, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University.
As the state capital, Raleigh naturally draws government meetings, but the city is also very much an outdoor paradise with an abundance of greenway trails and parks.
"People don’t realize how many trees we have here," says Loren Gold, executive vice president of the Greater Raleigh CVB.
The number of meeting facilities is just as impressive, as the Greater Raleigh area continues with a $3 billion enhancement that includes new hotels, restaurants, attractions and public spaces, most of which are scheduled for completion by 2010. As part of the makeover, Raleigh introduced the 500,000-square-foot Raleigh Convention Center last year.
The city’s arts and cultural scene is getting a boost with the expansion of the North Carolina Museum of Art, which will debut a new 127,000-square-foot gallery building in April 2010. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences broke ground last spring on its Green Square project, which will create a new Nature Research Center in 2011.
This October marks the debut of the City Plaza in the heart of downtown, an area of public art and fountains that can host 5,000 for receptions. Also in the works is a 5,000-seat amphitheater on the back side of the new convention center, slated to debut in May 2010.
Properties include the Raleigh Marriott City Center Hotel adjacent to the convention center and the Renaissance Raleigh Hotel North Hills. A Westin Raleigh Soleil Center is in the works in Crabtree Valley. Raleigh-Durham International Airport is in the process of adding a new $600 million terminal, which will allow more flights.
Other group options include the RBC Center and the McKimmon Conference and Training Center.
Downtown Durham is also undergoing a renaissance of sorts, including the innovative adaptive reuse of old textile and tobacco warehouses and buildings.
"Our downtown area now has 4 million square feet of historic textile and tobacco factories that have been renovated into entertainment districts with retail, artists’ studios and loft space," says Shelly Green, CEO of the Durham CVB.
The Golden Belt old textile factory, for example, is now set up as a complex of artist studios, lofts, retail shops and restaurants. Its Cotton Room offers 11,000 square feet of event space and can host up to 450.
Hotel development is also extensive. The 125-room Hotel Indigo Durham-Research Triangle Park is the latest addition. Scheduled for completion in 2010 is a 130-room Hilton Garden Inn. On the horizon are the 110-room Greenfire Development Boutique Hotel, a 207-room Westin, the Four Points by Sheraton Downtown Durham and the 80-room Courtyard by Marriott.
Existing meeting venues include Durham Civic Center Complex and the the Charles Hamner Conference Center in Research Triangle Park.
Known as a classic college town, Chapel Hill uses the tagline, "The Feeling Never Leaves You," in reference to its friendly nature.
"The city is growing, which is exciting especially during this economic time," says Linda Ekeland, director of sales for the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau.
There is a 130-room aloft hotel coming onboard in 2010. The property will be in close proximity to the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education on the campus of the University of North Carolina. Also on campus are the Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center and the Carolina Basketball Museum, which opened last year.
Sheraton Chapel Hill recently completed a remodel to all its 168 guest rooms and 16,000 square feet of meeting space. Greensboro’s tagline, The Middle Is the Best Part, refers to its convenient location as the middle of the state as well as its central location along the Eastern seaboard.
"Accessibility is huge," says Henri Fourrier, president and CEO of the Greensboro Area CVB. "In this strained economy, if costs are a concern we’re a very driveable market."
Facilities include the Sheraton Greensboro and the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. For a golf tournament plus a banquet, planners can use Greensboro’s Bryan Park Golf & Enrichment Center, with more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
February 2010 will mark the 50th anniversary of F.W. Woolworth sit-ins in the city’s old F.W. Woolworth diner building. In commemoration, the city will open its International Civil Rights Center & Museum in that building. Another project to debut in 2011 will be an aquatic complex adjacent to the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. It will include a diving pool and an ACC Hall of Champions museum.
Winston-Salem is a hub for arts and culture, and groups can take advantage of the city’s wealth of museums, such as the Reynolds House-Museum of American Art and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.
The city’s main meetings venue, the M.C. Benton Jr. Convention Center, is located in the downtown Twin City Quarter, also featuring the Embassy Suites Winston-Salem and the Winston-Salem Marriott.
The town of High Point, named after its location as the highest point on the North Carolina Railroad between Goldsboro and Charlotte, is home to more than 50 retail furniture outlets, giving it the title, "Home Furnishings Capital of the World."
"As a small town, we have to think outside the norm," says Marva Wells, sales manager for the High Point CVB.
Some options for off-site functions include the Doll & Miniature Museum of High Point, Centennial Station train depot, the Showplace and the Suites at Market Square. Meetings-friendly hotels include the Best Western High Point.
Fayetteville attracts the SMERF market, namely religious and military groups. In the last two years, more than $25 million has been poured into renovations on several hotel properties, including the Holiday Inn Bordeaux and Doubletree Hotel Fayetteville.
The city recently broke ground on the North Carolina State Veterans Park.
"It will be a visitor attraction as well as a memorial for reflection and a place of appreciation," according to John Meroski, CEO of the Fayetteville Area CVB.
The city is also home to the Airborne and Special Operations Museum and the 1800s-era Heritage Place complex. The Cape Fear Botanical Gardens is open to groups, and it is completing a visitor center that will offer meeting space for up to 200.
Meeting facilities include the Crown Center complex, with an arena, Expo Center and 12,000-square-foot Coliseum. TownePlace Suites Fayetteville Cross Creek opened this summer.
Atlantic Coast
The Cape Fear Coast is ramping up its meetings offerings with the upcoming Wilmington Convention Center, slated to open in September 2010. It will have a 12,000-square-foot ballroom and a 30,000-square-foot exhibit hall, as well as 63,000 square feet of meeting space. A future hotel is being planned as well.
"We’re looking at expanding the number of regional groups we’re getting," says John Sneed, convention sales manager for the Wilmington/Cape Fear Coast CVB. "Right now the largest we have goes up to about 400 or 500 people. We now have a group looking at the convention center for 2,000 people."
Off-site options include plantations and the parked Battleship North Carolina, now a museum. Groups can also head out on the Henrietta III for paddleboat cruises up the Cape Fear River.
In the Crystal Coast area state associations are attracted to the good value for the dollar, according to Cathy Adair, group sales director of the Crystal Coast Tourism Development Authority.
Attractions include the Beaufort Historic Site, with restored buildings from the 1700s. Groups can have dinner with the sharks at the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.
The Crystal Coast Civic Center offers a 12,000-square-foot exhibition hall. Hampton Inn and Suites on Atlantic Beach is newly renovated. Other group options include the Sheraton on Atlantic Beach.
Located on the confluence of the Neuse and Trent rivers, New Bern in Craven County is a haven for water buffs. Off-site meeting options include the Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens, featuring historic homes. Next July will mark the opening of a history and education center at the palace, which will offer space for groups.
In other development news, the former Sheraton New Bern recently converted to a Hilton following an upgrade. The SpringHill Suites New Bern recently opened, and in October the Candlewood Suites New Bern will debut. Groups can also utilize the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center.
Outer Banks, a 200-mile stretch of barrier islands, including Bodie Island, Hatteras Island and Roanoke Island, is home to some of the largest tracts of undeveloped beaches and seashore in the country.
"What’s really neat is we’re an island destination you can drive to that gives you a sense of place where it feels like you’ve gone a lot farther away," says Aaron Tuell, director of public relations for the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.
Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head on Roanoke Island is a new project by the North Carolina Aquarium to build a large fishing pier that will incorporate green technologies and meeting space opportunities.
Meetings hotels include the Hilton Garden Inn Outer Banks/Kitty Hawk and Ramada Plaza Nags Head Beach.
Greenville-Pitt County’s Greenville Convention Center recently added a new feature to its 32-acre convention center campus—the Grand Pedestrian Plaza, with new lighting for evening activities, water features and covered seating.
The Greenville Convention Center Campus includes a Hilton, Hampton Inn and City Hotel and Bistro, all with varying price points.
Rock Springs Center, an off-site event facility in the middle of a 500-acre equestrian community, can accommodate groups of up to 1,000.
The Mountains
Asheville is a major hub of white-water kayaking and also sports a vibrant performing arts scene.
"Asheville is alive, 24/7," says Tim Lampkin, director of convention sales and group services for the Asheville CVB. "We’re very often referred to as the "Paris of the South." We have a European vibe and wonderful old Art Deco buildings."
The Biltmore Estate remains Asheville’s most visited attraction, home to the 250-room Biltmore House. Groups can use the Biltmore’s Champagne Cellar or take Segway tours. Diana’s Pavilion at the Biltmore recently opened on a ridgetop above the mansion.
The CVB has budgeted funds to offer incentives for planners. For one program, the first person to register for a meeting receives a free first night or special welcome.
"It has been successful," Lampkin says. "We’ve had a couple of groups where they have been amazed their attendance rose 5 to 10 percent from where they were last year."
Grove Park Inn and the Asheville Civic Center are meetings-friendly venues.
Hickory lies at the foothills of the mountains, with access to dozens of biking and hiking trails, as well as kayaking.
"The sports market has come on strong for us," says Tara Hicks, director of sales and marketing for the Greater Hickory Metro CVB. "We have a large baseball facility 30 miles from here. We have a lot of tournaments there."
Groups can use the Hickory Metro Convention Center and The Science Center, which features an aquarium and a planetarium.
Facilities include the Park Inn and Gateway Conference Center, Crowne Plaza Hickory and a new Hampton Inn & Suites.
