Virginia Green Announces 2015 Green Travel Star and Green Travel Leader Award Winners!

Congratulations to Laura Wood Habr and Croc’s 19th Street Bistro, Dennis & Katherine Stebbins & Kelly Manchester Green Leaf and Pebble Tea Spa, Leslie Clements Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center & Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau – including Kimberlee Dobbins and Scott Warren on their awards for the Virginia Beach Convention Center and Virginia Beach Visitors Center!

The Virginia Green program presented the Virginia Green Travel Star Award today to 21 Virginia tourism businesses for their commitments to green tourism practices at the third annual Virginia Green Travel Conference and Travel Star Awards Celebration. In addition, 21 tourism businesses were recognized and received the Virginia Green Travel Leader Award for their efforts to protect the environment and promote green tourism in Virginia.

The conference was held at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel and Conference Center and featured more than 35 presentations on green tourism efforts in Virginia. The awards were presented by Virginia First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe, with assistance from Rita McClenny, president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

The Virginia Green program is run through a partnership of the Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Tourism Corporation, the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association (formerly the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association), and the Virginia Green Travel Alliance. The program encourages green practices in Virginia’s tourism industry, and nearly 1,700 tourism businesses and other organizations have self-certified their green commitments through the Virginia Green program.

Thank you to First Lady of Virginia Dorothy McAuliffe, Virginia Green, Executive Director, Tom Griffin and Virginia Tourism Corporation President Rita McClenny for the Recognition for our Virginia Green Travel awards.

For more information: Visit www.deq.virginia.gov.

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Pilot Covers Gift Card Fundraiser

This information about our “Hospitality for the Holidays” project finally ran yesterday in the Kempsville edition of the Pilot’s Beacon:

“Hospitality for the Holidays”

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The Virginal Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau partnered with the Virginia Beach hotel and restaurant associations for the second annual “Hospitality for the Holidays” give back program. More than 119 gift cards and certificates, totaling over $2,900, were collected for distribution throughout the hospitality industry to employees in need. The gift cards were donated by attendees of an annual hospitality holiday celebration at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

Pictured: Richard Murphy, general manager of Comfort Suites Beachfront, adds another gift card to the tree.

Sock Drive Story Picked Up

The Communications Unit is pleased to share our efforts to secure local media coverage for the CVB (both what we pitched to media on your behalf and what actually received coverage) in December 2015. Teresa pitched Hospitality for the Holidays to the Beacon & City Manager’s Update (appeared in 12/11 edition of CMU; Beacon replied it may run post-holidays). Teresa pitched Sock Drive story to Beacon/CMU (which appeared in 12/20 Beacon). Tiffany pitched CTA program to Inside Business. Jim Retirement announcement appeared in Inside Business 12/28:
http://insidebiz.com/news/top-15-stories-2015-no-2-departures-changes-leadership-landscape

Share your news with us stories@visitvirginiabeach.com and we will follow up with more information as needed from you.