Museums & Attractions

• The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center recently opened the $25 million Restless Planet permanent exhibit, featuring 12,000 square feet of new habitats and exhibits, 110,000 gallons of aquariums, 6,000 new animals and 367 new species. The renovation more than doubles the animal collection at one of Virginia Beach’s most popular attractions. Guests can come face-to-face with tomistomas—the world’s most endangered crocodile—and explore a 40-foot tunnel in the Red Sea while eagle rays with six-foot wingspans and hundreds of colorful reef fishes swim overhead. Other attractions include four re-created habitats—a Malaysian peat swamp, a coastal Sahara Desert, the Red Sea and Indonesia’s Flores Island. Groups can use the facility’s new venue as well as the rest of the aquarium, which offers reception space for up to 2,000. For more information, call 757.385.3474 or visit www.virginiaaquarium.com.

Programs & Packages

• Visit Tallahassee recently established the new Transportation Fund Program. To qualify, groups must meet the following criteria: utilize one of Leon County’s public meeting venues, book a minimum of 100 room nights, utilize two or more lodgers for accommodations, be a firsttime meeting/convention to Tallahassee and have a minimum two-day programmed agenda. Due to the lack of a true conference center or convention hotel, Tallahassee is sometimes not considered as a meeting destination, since groups often prefer sleeping rooms and meeting space under one roof or within walking distance. The new program was designed to offset transportation costs and assist in transporting meeting attendees between lodging properties and public meeting venues, or between the accommodations and a local attraction for an off-site function. For more information, call 850.606.2320 or visit www.visittallahassee.com.
• Face Time. It Matters is a grassroots industry campaign designed to promote the benefits of meeting face-to-face. The campaign was based on the findings of a recent national survey of corporate and association meeting planners, plus in-depth personal interviews with the industry’s leading executives and focus groups with professional meeting planners. According to the research, face-to-face meetings build trust and relationships; education and training are more effective in a live setting; live meetings actually save time and money; live meetings result in a more effective exchange of ideas; face-to-face meetings provide the human connection that powers business; and face-to-face meetings create jobs and powers the economy. Nine leading industry trade associations have adopted the campaign, which transpired as a result of their collaboration under the aegis of the CIC. For more information, visit www.facetimematters.org.
• Aruba’s Bucuti Beach Resort is offering its eco-friendly Experience Aruba Green Package. The package includes a guided hike with a native park ranger through Arikok National Park, a preserve of desert resources that comprises 20 percent of the land on Aruba that is home to most of the island’s flora and fauna, including the indigenous burrowing owl and Prikichi parrot; a tour of the Aruba Aloe factory to learn how Aruba’s oldest industry has been producing aloe for more than 100 years; and an authentic Aruban dinner for two. Guests can also participate in the resort’s monthly beach cleanup and watch sea turtles hatch, in season. Bucuti also hosts a biannual recycling contest. For more information, call 297.583.1100 or visit www.bucuti.com.