Posted by Terri Hardin under TravelResponses (1)

Last Thursday, I went with a group on a tour of Virginia Beach and Norfolk. It began in the back bay, where the peace is broken by occasional kayakers, scattering shoals of  fishes in their wake. We then went to the beach, a favorite for surfers, followed by nearby golf courses; then finally, the Virginia Aquarium, teeming with local varieties of fish, crustaceans, and the odd water mammal. Afterwards, we were welcomed into the Norfolk’s Botanical Garden, to the Nauticus Museum, and, finally attended a performance of the Virginia Arts Festival’s Military Tattoo, complete with Scottish dancer.

All the while, waiters trailed us, refilling our coffee cups and plying us with hors d’oeuvres. The tour, which took less than an hour, actually took place in a Manhattan loftspace, an event where the CVBs of Virginia Beach and Norfolk brought a sampling of their areas to New York for us to experience.

But while the event demonstrated the coast’s diversity, it didn’t compare to my memories of the area, three years past: squealing children, rushing past me on the Botanical Garden’s Home School Day; walking on the beach; dining outside in the mild fall weather all along the coast; the opening of the Virgina Beach Convention Center’s Phase I; and the pockmark of a cannon ball that hit a building in Norfolk during the Revolutionary War.

And yet, what with high fuel prices, long security lines, and airline inconstancy, destination “trunk shows” may be the wave of the future, as are Second Life and other virtual programs to which some destination marketers have turned to demonstrate the attractions of their areas. These help spark curiosity, and, hopefully, promote traffic to their regions.

Having been to the area before, the event awakened a desire in me to return. But I wonder what it does for people who have never been there.

What do you think? Do trunk shows and virtual worlds give you a taste of a destination’s “flavor?” Are they better or worse than the travel posters and postcards that used to do the same thing? What would you recommend?

Let us know!