Virginia Beach is gearing up for Groovy & Green June 4-5, an exciting event to showcase the city’s newest products like the Sandler Center for Performing Arts in Town Center, the Virginia Aquarium’s $25 million renovation, Restless Planet, as well as highlight major CVB initiatives focused on green and sustainability. The 2-day event will include participation from 20 meeting planners, the city’s hospitality partners – restaurants and hotels, national trade media, an expert panel on green as well as keynote speaker Kimberley Lewis of the US Green Building Council. Agenda for “Get Green Already” Conference can be found here.

Two partnership announcements will also be shared at this event. Stay tuned for photos and updates.

Just a few weeks ago, I received some exciting news at the Hampton Roads Conference of Minority Transportation Officials’ (COMTO) press conference. Julie Cunningham, the president of the national minority advocacy group, announced that COMTO would be coming to Virginia Beach in 2010 and 2013. In addition, this was the first time in the history of COMTO that a local chapter was chosen to host the organization’s national conference for 2 subsequent years.

I had a moment to reflect on how proud I was of the Hampton Roads COMTO Chapter and the Virginia Beach CVB’s sales team for working together to make this happen. Having the support and leadership of the local chapter was a significant factor in Virginia Beach winning the host city bid. This type of partnership is the prototype for successfully closing national accounts for Tier 2 meeting destinations such as Virginia Beach and it further demonstrates how significant local partnerships are to our success.

The multicultural conventions sector is a growth area for the city, which provides $13 million in future business for Virginia Beach and COMTO is just the beginning. In 2010 and 2013, we’re also looking forward to showcasing the city’s true downtown area, Town Center, offering upscale dining, entertainment and 4-star hotels like the Westin. Here’s a recent Inside Business article on the news announcement. http://tinyurl.com/cxr65v.