Author: Kasey Moore

 

Sally Noona, Sherri Thadeus, myself, and hotel partners Colleen Briley of the Hilton and Mary Kelly of the new Marriott recently attended ASAE in Columbus, Ohio.

This event brings together association industry leaders from all over and it was a spectacular time in Columbus to meet with existing and prospective clients. Overall, we met with over 150+ professionals during our 2 day trade show, hosted a client engagement and enjoyed educational sessions throughout the conference.

An interesting dance performance at ASAE’s “The Classic”.

Sally Noona and Kristina Holbrook of the CVB, enjoying ASAE 2019 in Columbus

Colleen Briley of the Hilton, Shamin Hotels and Kristina Holbrook of the CVB, having a ball. 😉

 

Prior to the Tradeshow, with our beach cruiser!

 

 

 

• On Tuesday, Allegiant announced a new destination: Punta Gorda, a beautiful gateway to Southwest Florida.  Non-stop flights will operate each Thursday and Sunday, November 14-April 12 with fares at $54 one-way.
• Passenger traffic for July – Best month EVER in the airports 81-year history
• Seattle’s Best Coffee kiosk will open in the Arrivals Terminal by end of month.
• A Satellite Police Station has also opened in the arrivals terminal.

Jane and Eric at the First Responders Convention in Hampton promoting Virginia Beach for 2020!

This summer the VBCC was given the opportunity to host a Summer Youth Employment Worker, Jaelese Peavy (pictured bottom middle). Over the past couple of months, Jaelese has worked at the VBCC providing Concierge service, administrative tasks, and front of house usher duties. She also worked closely with the Event Team and got to see them in action during Warrior Expo, StarQuest, and many more of the fun things always happening at the Convention Center! Jealese will be a senior at Ocean Lakes High School this coming school year and hopes to pursue a career in the medical field!

 

Curtis Weaver with his Parrothead hat after winning the Jimmy Buffet tickets!

1. 1. The third-party investigation into the events of 5/31 began yesterday with the introduction of the team from the Chicago firm of Hillard Heintze. The team includes:
   • 4 former secret service agents

   ◦Will review security policies, practices, and procedures.

   ◦They’ll also do a physical security assessment of the Municipal Center.

   • 2 former law enforcement officers — a former police chief and deputy police chief

   ◦Will review all issues relating to police response and obstacles faced.

   • 2 attorneys, the firm’s general counsel and a Supreme Court of Virginia certified mediator who specializes in human resource issues.
   • 2 certified fraud examiners who are skilled in forensic auditing

   ◦Will perform a thorough data footprint of the shooter to include social media and any data needing to be reviewed.

   • 1 mental health expert who is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist

   ◦Will conduct a retrospective indirect threat assessment and risk evaluation of the shooter.

   The first of two planned public sensing sessions held by the firm is slated for the evening of 7/29 at a location to be determined.

   1. The History Museums department is now under the larger umbrella of the city’s Cultural Arts department. Museum Curator Anne Miller presented an overview of what will become of the 5/31 memorial items and mementos. The families of the 12 victims will each receive a flash drive of the most prominent items left for their loved one so they can choose what they’d like to have for themselves in private. There is research being conducted of what other cities have done and some city officials may be traveling to several of these cities to actually see their sites and discuss lessons learned.
   2. Valerie Myers of the Communication Office presented highlights of the survey distributed for feedback regarding a permanent memorial and the future of Building 2. Only 1800 responses have been received to date (city employees and the public); the survey closes this Friday (7/26). The current responses show an overwhelming nod to constructing both a permanent and an ongoing temporary memorial site to be in place until a permanent memorial is completed. Regarding the future of Building 2, 48% of the respondents strongly agreed that Bldg. 2 should be torn down. City Manager Hansen said he does not support tearing down a $20M building and our citizens probably won’t either. He advised to stay tuned.
   3. The Office of Emergency Management was alerted to a federal fund (through the Department of Justice) for the establishment of a permanent resource center for cities who experience a mass shooting. This will result in the creation of the “VB Strong Center” somewhere in the city (not at the municipal center) that will serve as a long-term assistance center to provide a physical and virtual presence offering services and support to aid in the physical and emotional healing for victims of the 5/31 tragedy. Sentara will serve as third-party care provider and will establish, oversee and staff this Center. Services will include Navigators (persons who will direct victims to appropriate services and referrals, including workers compensation, Virginia Victims Fund, etc.; Case Management (intake and assessment); 24/7 Crisis Hotline; Mental Health counseling; facilitated gatherings and support groups; alternative therapies; support for trauma suffered by first responders; website and online presence; and other services as determined by intake and assessment. Victims include: survivors and their immediate families of those lost; Bldg. 2 employees and employees from nearby buildings; first responders, EOC staff; family reception center and assistance center staff; hospital staff. Referral services and group therapies will be offered to everyone else.
   4. The STiR Office shared presentations by three teams who participated in the city’s first Internal Hackathon wherein random employees from 11 departments were teamed up for two days and challenged with developing an innovation process change to make working in the Emergency Operation Center more efficient.
   5. City Manager Dave Hansen then made several announcements:
   • • • Alice Kelly is the new director of Finance.
       • Taylor Adams is officially the new director of Economic Development.
   1. Hansen then announced the upcoming departure of CVB Director Brad Van Dommelen. He thanked Brad for his hard work for the city over the past 3.5 years and wished him well. The audience honored Brad a standing ovation.

DLM Presentations 

• May 31 Independent Investigation
• Memorial Building 2 Survey Presentation
• VBStrong DLM Presentation
• Memorial Process

 

 

Please click the links below to watch Pharrell’s recovery campaign.

Full Length: https://vimeo.com/343668048

30 Seconds: https://vimeo.com/343668714

 

 

Erin, John and Kasey from the MarComm team recently attended the PRSA Travel & Tourism Conference conference in Philly. Below are some notes from the conference. If you know of VB experiences that are buzzworthy as noted below, contact egoldmeier@visitvirginiabeach.com  with your idea!

 

PRSA polled the top 50 travel writers in the biz prior to the conference and learned the following:

 Writers Are Sick of Hearing About These Travel Trends:

• Farm-to-Table
• Ultra Luxury
• Goat Yoga
• National Whatever Day
• Breweries & Beer Pairings
• Girlfriend Getaway
• Glamping
• Food Trails

 

Writers Want to Hear More About:

• Sustainability
• Wellness
• Multigenerational travel opportunities
• Solo travel opportunities
• Shorter trips
• CBD
• Cruises
• Veggie / Vegan
• Low ABV / non-alcoholic drinks i.e. kombucha
• High-end Asian
• Hands on cooking experiences
• Ugly food!

If any of you have ideas that would fall into any of the above categories, please share with me and I’ll pass along to writers

 

Top 8 Luxury Travel Publications Right Now:

• Travel + Leisure
• Conde Nast Traveler
• Robb Report
• Departures
• AFAR
• Forbes
• Town + Country
• Luxury Travel

 

Current Media Trends:

• Expanding influence of the citizen journalist and bloggers
• Live-streaming continues to grow in popularity and is a major force in breaking news
• GIFs are a driving engagement with news media
• We all produce content now; distribution is limitless
• Social apps are continually evolving and becoming media and publication offerings

 

More Travel & Tourism Trends:

• Virtual tours. Whether it’s a hotel room, a vacation rental, a cruise ship or even an activity at a destination, giving travelers the chance to explore the experience before they get there is helpful
• Smaller market cities have become a top travel bucket-list destination choice for many leisure vacationers. Locations such as Austin, Raleigh, N.C., Nashville, Tenn., and Spokane, Wash., (maybe we can get VB on here soon? J)are hot places to visit because of the affordability and unadulterated culture. Travelers have either already visited main market locations or know someone who has and want “something cool and different.”
• Reputation management, social media content creation and strategy, advertorial placements, and SEO/AdWords tactics are becoming more prominent tasks assigned to our departments
• Content that is shareable and can get extra legs after a trip or single news announcement. Creating those stories, memories, moments and photo ops can make a great initial story, but can be woven into future storytelling too.