Spotlight On: Dennis Edwards, CEO, Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau

Key points:

• • Greater Raleigh continues to outperform national tourism trends with steady visitor growth.
• • Major investments in venues, hotels, and attractions are fueling future tourism and convention business.
• • The region is expanding business travel through industry events, sports, and new visitor technology.

July 2026 — Dennis Edwards, president and CEO of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, spoke with Invest: about attracting business and tourism to Raleigh. “Due to Greater Raleigh’s strength in life sciences, advanced manufacturing, technology, and cleantech, we continue to have great success in hosting conventions and conferences related to those sectors.”

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What tourism impact has the CVB experienced recently? 

We’ve been fortunate and are beating the trend right now. We are holding our own. We haven’t seen big increases in tourism compared to last year, but other regions nationally have seen significant decreases. We’re happy with a small increase, and that’s where we’ve been for the last three to four months. It speaks to the diversity of what drives our tourism. We don’t rely on just one or two markets. We are diverse in government, education, sports, leisure, conventions, and meetings. Numbers at the Raleigh-Durham airport have followed the same trend as hotels, with a 1% to 2% increase year over year. 

Consumer confidence has been a concern for the entire travel industry, and we’re no exception. Consumer spending is getting tougher, with fewer people spending on travel. About 70% of our business comes from within a four-hour drive. We’re an accessible destination that doesn’t rely on air travel. We’re an affordable destination with many free attractions, including many museums and parks. We had 19 million visitors last year who spent $3.4 billion and generated $321 million in sales tax revenue. These were all record numbers for us, and our hotel occupancy is outperforming state and national averages. 

What upcoming developments will support tourism growth in Greater Raleigh?

We’ve been working on several big developments and are finally seeing a lot of work coming to fruition. We broke ground on the 6,000-seat outdoor Red Hat Amphitheater in April. When it is completed in 2027, we will demolish the existing amphitheater and start construction on a new Raleigh Convention Center expansion. Dirt is turning, which is always a positive sign. In December 2025, the new 600-room Omni hotel will break ground adjacent to the Raleigh Convention Center.

We put $300 million into enhancements to the Lenovo Center, a three-year project primarily being worked on during the hockey and basketball offseason. After the last football game, we will start construction on the $1 billion development surrounding the area, including a hotel, residential space, restaurant space, and a 4,440-seat LiveNation indoor venue. The North Carolina Museum of History closed earlier this year and will be closed until 2028. They are putting $180 million into major renovations at the museum, including 40,000 additional square feet of exhibit space and 25,000 square feet of gallery space. The Marbles Kids Museum and the North Carolina Museum of Art are also going through major renovations.

Developments at Dorothea Dix Park have made national and international news. It’s a 310-acre park less than a mile from downtown Raleigh. The city purchased the park from the state in 2020. In conjunction with the city and the Dix Park Conservancy, we opened the Gipson Play Plaza area in May 2025, an 18.5-acre complex and $28 million investment that is like a playground on steroids. It’s an amazing complex and has something for all ages.

In November 2025, artist Thomas Dambo, along with over 300 volunteers, built five troll statues that are each over 20 feet tall and built from reclaimed barn wood, fences, pallets, barrels, and fallen branches. Since June 2025, we have had over 900,000 visitors to the park to enjoy these free attractions.

Between the free amenities, enhancements at the convention center and Lenovo Center, and the unique, modern infrastructure coming into the market, we are excited about everything we have to offer. We worked with Travel South and Visit North Carolina to bring in the first Michelin Guide American South edition. We have excellent restaurants, and the culinary scene has always been a big push for us. Fourteen of our restaurants received recognition in the Michelin Guide. Everything from fine dining to barbecue has been recognized. 

How is the Convention and Visitors Bureau working to attract more corporate events and business travelers to Greater Raleigh?

We’ve been fortunate. Last year, business travel was flat, but we’ve seen an uptick in 2025. We’re seeing more businesses come here, such as Fuji, Apple, and Amazon. As more corporations establish a presence here, we become more bullish on corporate business and its effects on the area. We’ve developed great relationships with companies like Pendo, Lenovo, SAS, Merz Therapeutics, and GlaxoSmithKline, all of which are holding conventions at the Convention Center. We spend a lot of time developing those relationships and explaining how important it is to reinvest in the market and take meetings in the area. It’s not a hard sell. 

The collaboration and mutual understanding that we’re here to make our quality of life better is understood by anybody who moves into this market. Institutions like NC State University are connected with many businesses here. Due to Greater Raleigh’s strength in life sciences, advanced manufacturing, technology, and cleantech, we continue to have great success in hosting conventions and conferences related to those sectors. We are thrilled to be hosting the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives’ annual convention in July 2026. This convention will bring together over 350 of the top STEM executives. It’s a tremendous opportunity for us to showcase our convention center, hotels, and our diverse offerings from the arts, cultural, music, and culinary scenes.

How is the CVB leveraging digital platforms and technology like the Wander App to encourage outdoor adventures to attract a broader audience?​

We partnered with Wander App. It’s a nine-month project in collaboration with all 12 parks and recreation departments in the municipalities of Wake County and with Wake County itself. The Wander App is mobile, and anybody who comes into the market can find over 300 miles of trails in Wake County. When they get on a trail, they can find beverage and food options nearby. It can tell you which trails are closed for construction or maintenance.

Its interactive features are great for residents and visitors alike. We’re working closely with every municipality to keep the app current and up to date. We depend heavily on research and data, and our decisions are research-driven. We are working with a company called Arrivalist, which can track every mobile device that comes in and out of the county, as well as monitor 107 geofences. We don’t know who they are, but we can track the locations of mobile devices and see if people are going to music venues, sporting events, and shopping malls. This helps make our marketing decisions more effective and targeted. 

Our website now has an AI-driven chat that visitors use to ask questions. It uses all of the data we have to create answers. AI is an evolving, complex discussion that every destination marketing organization in the country is learning how to use and complement the information it gathers. 

What new opportunities or signature events do you see for growing tourism and hospitality in Greater Raleigh over the next few years?

We struck another four-year deal with Dreamville, a hip-hop festival started by local rapper J. Cole. The festival will take place in May 2026. We weren’t sure if the festival would return, so we’re excited to announce that it will be back for four more years. The Soccer Tournament has also extended the tournament in Cary for another four years. It brings 68 men’s and 16 women’s teams from all over the world for a 7v7 soccer tournament. It’s a $1 million, winner-takes-all competition. It gives us exposure through ESPN coverage and brings great economic impact. 

We are working behind the scenes in anticipation of Major League Baseball (MLB) announcing expansion team opportunities. Tom Dundon, the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, has publicly expressed interest in purchasing an MLB team. We’ve been working to identify the proper site and funding for a baseball stadium, gathering the data to make our pitch. Hopefully, we will be in a position to bring Major League Baseball here by 2029-2030. 

Additionally, the North Carolina Courage, our professional women’s soccer team, also needs a new stadium to stay competitive. The current men’s professional team will fold after this season in preparation for developing a new team in 2028. We’re working toward getting a new soccer stadium built for both of these professional teams by 2028-2029.

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