Northeast Tourism "Hub & Spoke" Initiative

Northeastern North Carolina is home to a number of nationally-recognized tourist destinations such as the Senator Bob Martin Eastern Agricultural Center in Williamston, the world-famous Outer Banks, Elizabeth City’s waterfront, and many others. North Carolina’s Northeast Commission sees the "hub and spoke" initiative as a way to increase visitation to the region as a whole and especially for not-so-traveled areas that are within an hour's drive of major destination areas that can accommodate motorcoach groups and individual travelers.

Hub and spoke tours are becoming increasingly popular among the group travel market. Exciting and quality hub and spoke tours provide a number of economic benefits. Since many travelers prefer to settle in and not move each night, hub and spoke tours help visitors find their way within the northeast region with multiple day trips during their visit. The longer visitors stay, the more lodging and sales tax dollars are realized to help market and develop tourism within the region. Additionally, visitors are able to experience more tourist attractions and festivals, giving them more opportunities to spend money in different communities. Longer stays give visitors a better idea of our region’s culture, history and values.

Hub Areas in North Carolina’s Northeast Region

The following locations have been identified as “hub” areas where there is an existing hotel/motel inventory, restaurants, and visitor amenities to accommodate motorcoach and other group travelers:

• Elizabeth City

• Roanoke Rapids

• Washington

• Manteo

Itineraries for these destinations are available at www.visitncne.com

Recent Hub & Spoke Activity

Many more visitors are expected to visit the towns of Northeastern North Carolina as a result of a “Hub & Spoke” marketing initiative sponsored by the North Carolina’s Northeast Commission.

Local tourism officials were selected by the Commission to represent the 16-county region at recent tourism market places.  Russ Haddad and Lynn Lewis represented the region at the 2008 American Bus Association Marketplace, a six-day international event beginning February 2nd at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.  During the event, they marketed the region to many companies using regional marketing materials and prepared bus trip itineraries. 

In January, Tanya Young and Sara Catherine Adams spoke with 24 motorcoach operators present at the NC Motorcoach Association Annual Meeting and marketed the benefits of “Hub & Spoke” traveling within North Carolina’s Northeast Region.  “Most of the tour buses are passing through our area on the way to the Outer Banks, so the operators were grateful to learn about the historical locations we have along the route.  The tour operators like the ‘Hub & Spoke’ idea because it helps them organize their tour groups around a geographical area or a specific theme,” said Young. 

The sample motorcoach itineraries were prepared by NET, the Northeast Tourism group led by Nancy Nicholls, Tourism Development Authority Director for Chowan County.  NET prepared the itineraries during a one-day retreat at Hope Plantation in Windsor.  Sample itineraries begin at one of the larger towns in the region where 50 people can stay together in hotels and eat together at restaurants, then provide options for visiting two to three smaller towns within an hour drive of each hub.  “This ‘Hub & Spoke’ concept allows small towns to reap the benefits brought by a group of 50 travelers spending the day in the small town.  These groups will have the opportunity to visit the local attractions, spend money in the local shops, and what’s even better, once they visit the small town, they are more likely to visit again and again,” said Nicholls. 

The overall goals of the Hub & Spoke Initiative are:

• Increase destination awareness to positively impact the region’s economy with an increase in leisure visitors and dollars spent in “spoke areas.”

• Develop relationships with group tour operators to increase published tour programs, length of stays and tour fulfillments.

• Develop new regional destination products for individual and group leisure travelers.

• Establish partnerships with local, regional and statewide organizations to leverage resources.

• Develop “Visitor Marketing” programs in each of the spoke areas to increase awareness of what it takes to serve the visitor and keep them coming back.

• Link “hub and spoke areas” with newly developed marketing tools (website, visitor guide, hub brochures, etc.)

For more information visit our travel website at www.visitncne.com and the North Carolina tourism website at www.visitnc.com.