Month: November 2017

Deputy City Manager Ken Chandler joined CVB Marketing Communication Vice President Tiffany Russell, APR, and CVB Community Outreach and Relationship Development representative Teresa Diaz, APR, recently at the 4^th Annual Eastern Virginia Diversity & Inclusion Conference. Held at the Convention Center, this professional development conference offered a choice of five workshop tracks, a panel discussion by workshop leaders and an invigorating keynote address by Gloria Goins, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer for Bon Secours Health Systems. Many city employees took advantage of this opportunity to learn best practices, trends and challenges in ensuring workplaces are diverse and inclusive for all.

 

Distinctive Gourmet lead the charge with their outstanding food, beverage and usual stellar service and The Whitlock Group kept the workshop equipment and presenters on point despite a wide range of multiple meeting rooms and needs. DCM Chandler presented on the subject of diversifying the leadership pipeline. Teresa led and moderated the panel discussion and Tiffany was a presenter during the “Women in Leadership: Public & Private Sectors” workshop.  Congrats to all involved for a job well done.

If you would like to see the State of Tourism Presentation please click here.

If you would like to see the VBTV State of Tourism Video please click here.

More than 210 city, community, corporate and hospitality industry leaders convened in the Convention Center on Wednesday, Nov. 8 to hear CVB Director Brad Van Dommelen’s presentation on the state of the travel and tourism industry.

To kick off the luncheon, Mayor Sessoms spoke of exciting times in store for Virginia Beach. Director Van Dommelen paid special tribute to Ruth Smith for her service to the city since 1978 and wished her well in her retirement.

One of the city’s strongest economic drivers, the travel and tourism industry is very much alive and well. According to U.S. Travel Association, a record 1.49 billion in direct travel-related expenditures were generated in Virginia Beach during the 2016 calendar year.

Other data highlights from the presentation include:

*Annual visitation to Virginia Beach grew to 15.2 million

*More than 13,600 jobs in Virginia Beach were directly supported by the hospitality industry

*Convention Center attendance surpassed 622,000 guests

The CVB staff would like to thank our partners for their contribution to the event’s success, including the staff at Distinctive Gourmet who provided excellent service and an outstanding meal, the VBPD for their impressive color guard ceremony and Chaplain Don Hipple for his insightful benediction before the meal.

The support of City Council, department directors and city staff is always appreciated at this event and this year, record numbers of all were in attendance. Thank you to all for your continued support.

“The Virginia Beach tourism industry needs to continue working on reinventing itself, marketing to specific interests, increasing visitors in the off-season and bringing locals back into the tourist areas – improvements already on the City’s to-do list to retain its steady tourism growth.”

Read Article Here

A big thank you to the volunteers at the State of Tourism Luncheon!

The VB CVB was honored to witness the former VB CVB VP of Marketing and Sales, Mr. Al Hutchinson, wow the audience as the keynote speaker during the annual NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet at the Westin Virginia Beach Town Center, November 5, 2017!