May 14, 2021

Dear Valued Tourism Industry Partners,

As I shared with the CVB team, the month of May came in with a bang. After more than 30 years of partnering to hold an awards luncheon celebrating our industry's frontline workforce, state mandates required a change to the game plan for National Travel & Tourism Week (NTTW) 2021. The CVB was proud to sponsor the Virginia Beach NTTW Hospitality Virtual Job Fair, which resulted in more than 200 applicants registering along with 54 of our Virginia Beach hospitality partners. I am excited to share that 58% of the registered applicants actively participated in more than 250 virtual sessions with prospective employers. Even more impressive is the number of businesses that took advantage of this prime opportunity to identify potential staff. An incredible 96% of you were online with those searching for work in our industry.  Hopefully, a sizable number of new hires are preparing to host those ready to travel to Virginia Beach. While NTTW 2021 will be remembered for its shift in plans, it is our hope we'll be gearing up our 2022 NTTW awards and luncheon celebration.   

Yesterday, we held our monthly industry meetings. Below you'll find the links to the presentations shared with the Advertising Advisory Committee (AAC) and the Director of Sales (DOS) attendees.  Please reach out to me if there are any questions or concerns. The recovery of our tourism industry remains our focus and the CVB stands in unison with all of you. Please let me or my team know how we can assist.

• Advertising Advisory Committee Presentation (LINK)
  • This meeting is held on the second Thursday of every month and is open to the public.
• Director of Sales Meeting Presentation (LINK)
  • This meeting is held on the second Thursday of every month and is open to all Directors of Sales, this is not a public meeting. 

If basketball is your sport, stop by the Sports Center this weekend and check ​out the Zero Gravity Beach Ball Bash. With 900 athletes expected from up and down the East Coast and the southern U.S., this tournament is billed as one of Virginia's top events of the year. Find out more about this exciting weekend HERE.

Sincerely,

Quick Glance at Virginia Beach's Performance

Virginia Beach YoY Hotel Occupancy

*The next several weeks of our YoY data will be considerably different; this time last year the government instituted COVID-19 restriction policies (March 16, 2020).

Source: Smith Travel Research Inc. (STR) - Republication or other use of this data without the express written permission of STR is strictly prohibited.

Virginia Beach Weekly Occupancy Competition Set Comparison

Source: Smith Travel Research Inc. (STR) - Republication or other use of this data without the express written permission of STR is strictly prohibited.

Visit our Partner page for more information.

To view previous Friday updates, log in to the Partner Pipeline.