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Leisure/Entertainment & Heritage Tourism

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 Tanya. 

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.   

Tourism

Roanoke Rapids Theater and Carolina Crossroads   Hope Plantation, Windsor, NC

Tourism is a major economic engine in North Carolina’s Northeast Region and continues grow as more and more visitors discover our natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources. North Carolina’s Northeast boasts some of the state’s major tourism attractions including the world-famous Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, Historic Halifax, and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  With the location of such attractions as the Carolina Crossroads Music & Entertainment District, a growing collection of tourism clusters is emerging that mandates a regional focus on the leisure, entertainment and tourism industry for future business development.

The Northeast Commission's vision is to implement marketing strategies that differentiate North Carolina’s Northeast Region from other destinations, incorporating a “hub and spoke” visitor recruitment that focuses visitors to more rural visitor attractions as a part of their visit to major tourism "hubs" in the region.

The sixteen counties in North Carolina’s Northeast Region have many natural, historic, cultural and recreational resources that represent distinctive aspects of American heritage worthy of national recognition.

North Carolina’s Northeast Commission, with the support of the region’s local chambers of commerce, tourism professionals, arts councils and community and economic development organizations, is spearheading the Northeastern North Carolina Heritage Area Initiative. This Initiative has joined the communities in the Northeast Region in a regional effort to strengthen and revitalize their economies through heritage tourism development. Legislation will be introduced in this session of Congress to support the designation of the Northeastern North Carolina Heritage Area.

This prestigious designation would provide the mechanism to preserve the Northeast Region’s nationally significant landscape, create a new economic development and tourism tool for our region, develop new partnerships, and introduce Northeastern North Carolina to the hearts and minds of all Americans. Designation as a National Heritage Area will provide national recognition to our individual counties and region as a whole, as well as provide federal and private funding to preserve and promote our historic, cultural, natural and recreational resources.

Specific activities associated with the Leisure/Entertainment & Heritage Tourism Marketing include:

• Marketing support for regional tourist/entertainment destination attractions such as The Roanoke Rapids Theater and Carolina Crossroads Music & Entertainment District along the I-95 corridor

• Developing new visitor opportunities for smaller tourist venues using a “hub and spoke” marketing plan

• Workforce development and employee recruitment to support the region’s growing tourism industry

• Heritage Tourism and designation of the sixteen county region as a National Heritage Area

Bus Tours Press Release

Another Recent Hub & Spoke Press Release