Raleigh to Debut New Visitors' Center

Wake — Tourism is big business in the Triangle. According to the Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, 11 million people visited Wake County last year, spending $1.3 billion. Soon, visitors will have a new place to turn for information.

The Visitors and Convention Bureau plans to open a new visitors’ center inside the Raleigh City Museum on Fayetteville Street. It will be right across the street from “The Mint,” one of Raleigh’s newest restaurants.

“Anything that brings more attention to the downtown area is obviously good to all of downtown Raleigh,” said Douglas Snyder, general manager of The Mint.

Right now, visitors have few places to turn. But that will soon change.

“We are going to have at any given time, over 2,000 visitors in the downtown area wanting information on various things,” said Dennis Edwards with the convention and visitors bureau. “We wanted to make it as easy as possible for visitors and residents alike to get that information.”

Officials with the Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau say they hope to have the visitor's center open by March, before the big NCAA men's tournament.