Live The Life
The CVB helped fill the lunchboxes of local children this week by donating the surplus food remaining from the Partner Pipeline training sessions held at the VBCC. Individual bags of chips and pretzels, granola bars and fresh bananas and apples were donated after each day’s sessions. The JCOC Pantry Manager relayed that the food was being picked up by families with children to add to their lunchboxes.
What a great feeling, especially at this time of the year!
Congrats to Curtis and Bryan for training last week!
Chef Desiree Neal visited WAVE Church on Saturday, November 18th to prepare a Cranberry Apple Stuffing for WAVE Church’s Thanksgiving Extravaganza, an event done by WAVE City Care to help support those in need during the holidays. She prepared the dish for a group of 150+ people and provided samples to all.
Great Job Chef Desiree!
When the weather cools down sports business heats up in Virginia Beach. The VB Sports team is wrapping up an incredibly busy month of sports tourism activity…..10 events in one month!
Shout out to Kenneth Payne, Dani Timm, Bill Kelly and Megan Valentine for ensuring that sports tourism in Virginia Beach is a success. Also, special thanks to our partners at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation and venues throughout the City for delivering the highest level of service and leaving our customers with anticipation and excitement about the possibility of hosting repeat events in Virginia Beach!
| Account Name | Lead Name | Meeting Dates (Preferred Start) | Meeting Dates (Preferred End) | Requested Rooms | Out of Town Attendees | Total Attendees | Venue |
| Special Olympics of Virginia | 2017 Special Olympics VA Fall Championships | 11/3/2017 | 11/5/2017 | 685 | 1424 | 3599 | PAAC |
| Triple Crown Sports | 2017 Virginia Beach Softball Showcase | 11/3/2017 | 11/5/2017 | 345 | 200 | 400 | PAAC |
| Virginia Beach Mustangs, Inc. | 2017 Beach Bowl | 11/4/2017 | 11/4/2017 | 125 | 450 | 1150 | PAAC |
| United States Collegiate Athletic Association | 2017 USCAA Fall Championship Week | 11/9/2017 | 11/13/2017 | 1675 | 2150 | 2150 | PAAC, Fieldhouse, SportsPlex |
| Virginia Beach Tennis and Country Club | 2017 USTA/MAS Challenger | 11/10/2017 | 11/13/2017 | 160 | 178 | 184 | VB Tennis Center |
| V3 Lacrosse LLC (coastal sports management) | 2017 Beach Turkey Shoot | 11/18/2017 | 11/19/2017 | 1200 | 2160 | 2700 | PAAC |
| National Field Hockey League | 2017 National Field Hockey League Fall Championship | 11/18/2017 | 11/19/2017 | 250 | 550 | 650 | Field Hockey Training Center |
| Legendary Softball | 2017 Mid-Atlantic Player Camp | 11/18/2017 | 11/19/2017 | 300 | 318 | 425 | PAAC |
| Bishop Sullivan Catholic H.S. | Bishop Sullivan Football Series Game 6 | 11/18/2017 | 11/18/2017 | 200 | 1675 | 4150 | Bishop Sullivan High School |
| Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc. | 2017 Pop Warner Mid-South Regional Championship | 11/24/2017 | 11/25/2017 | 1632 | 4230 | 4700 | PAAC & VBCC |
| 6,572 | 20,108 |
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 4th 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.
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.
This group tour from Planter’s Bank recently visited Virginia Beach. They are from Hopkinsville, KY, the birthplace of Edgar Cayce.
“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.”