With the 2018 holiday season in full swing, nearly a third of Wrightsville Beach’s hotel rooms remain unavailable for booking because of damage caused by Hurricane Florence. Two of the island’s three major resorts were forced to close for repairs after the storm, which made landfall near Wrightsville Beach on Sept. 14. Both the Blockade Runner Beach Resort, ...

Cape Fear Museum of History and Science has received a coveted designation. The museum, 814 Market St. in Wilmington, is now one of only seven organizations in the state to obtain a Smithsonian affiliation. The affiliate program establishes long-term relationships with museums, education institutions and cultural organizations to facilitate the loan of Smithsonian artif ...

A Wilmington hotel has undergone an extensive renovation. The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Wilmington-University Center was redesigned inside and out, over a six-month period. Located at 160 Van Campen Blvd., the 130-room hotel was updated to reflect the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)’s current design. Holiday Inn Express hotels are part of the IHG bra ...

New Hanover County tourism officials are working to recover the local travel industry, post-Hurricane Florence. As the region continues to recover from the September storm, the Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) recently announced a plan to get the industry back on track. While the plan is multi-faceted, the top priority is shifting perceptio ...

As recovery efforts from Hurricane Florence continue, several area attractions remain damaged in her wake. Last month’s unwelcome visitor not only left physical marks – from demolished roofs to downed trees – but economic ones as well. Costly repairs, debris cleanup and ongoing construction are among the financial hits plaguing some tourism draws. Then th ...

More Wilmington hotel rooms could be open for area residents who were displaced by Hurricane Florence. The city of Wilmington recently notified four Market Street hotels, which have been placed under a court order, that it would not seek legal action related to a provision prohibiting the hotels from renting to locals if they take in residents displaced by the storm, ac ...

As the city deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, the good news for the Wilmington Convention Center is that staff members were back in their offices earlier this week, preparing for an event scheduled for Friday.  The bad news is that the center lost more than $370,000 in gross event revenue as a result of the storm, said Fredia Brady, the convention cen ...

Blockade Runner Beach Resort, a Wrightsville Beach landmark for 55 years, announced today it will remain closed at least until the spring of next year because of damages sustained from Hurricane Florence.  “We made the decision following several weeks of analysis and assessments with engineers and experts,” said Mary Baggett, co-owner and operator of th ...

Rooms for those displaced by Hurricane Florence have been in short supply at Wilmington area hotels and short-term lodgings. More space, however, could open up this month, said Connie Nelson, spokeswoman with the Wilmington and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Overall, the availability has been limited as rooms filled pre-storm with evacuees and relief ...

Visitor spending increased in Pender County for 2017, with a growth rate that outpaced Brunswick and New Hanover counties, and even the state. The statistics released recently by Visit North Carolina revealed the 5.14 percent increase over 2016.   So how did that spending soar? Pender County officials point to a number of prominent factors including the area’s ...