Visit Charlotte

As the 15th largest city in the nation, Charlotte is home to nearly 890,000 people and counting. Yet even after claiming a top spot-on Forbes magazine’s list of “America’s fastest-growing cities” in 2019, it’s the Queen City’s unmeasurable amenities—a friendly and welcoming attitude with a longstanding tradition of hometown pride—that draw meeting planners to its door. A hard-working banking town that enjoys letting loose, Charlotte’s community comes together over good food and cold brews, at gallery crawls and cheering on the home team. In the heart of it all is Center City, also known as Uptown. Seven miles from the airport, this walkable business district houses the 600,000-square-foot Charlotte Convention Center, where Visit Charlotte hosts hundreds of groups every year. In addition to offering complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the Convention Center, Visit Charlotte ensures planners take advantage of in-house perks like food and beverage services and preferred contractors. Visit Charlotte can also help book multiple venues around the city, including the NASCAR Hall of Fame, which is connected to the Convention Center. Whether it’s a 10-person board meeting or an annual conference, a meeting at the Convention Center places attendees within easy walking distance of Uptown’s hotels, restaurants, museums and nightlife. In this compact district, there are more than 6,400 hotel rooms (up 40% from 2017) with other exciting hotel projects on the way. To answer the city’s growth and such burgeoning meeting potential, the Convention Center itself has opened the doors of a $126.9 million expansion, adding 50,000 square feet of meeting space to the already-expansive facility and a pedestrian walkway to the 700-room Westin Hotel. This walkway leads to the Light Rail, Uptown’s easy way to navigate through nearby neighborhoods. Head to South End for shopping and dining or enjoy a brewery tour through NoDa, Charlotte’s historic arts district. Just outside Uptown is the U.S. National Whitewater Center, a hub for outdoor entertainment and adventure, complete with leisurely strolls by the Catawba River, the rush of whitewater rafting or delightful dining from the deck overlooking the excitement . These updates not only make Charlotte a prime meeting destination but speak to the city’s undeniable energy. With a record number of airport travelers last year (43 million despite Covid, but who’s counting?) and numerous callouts from USA Today, Southern Living, Food + Wine, Meetings Today, Smart Meetings and more, Charlotte has solidified itself as a city on the rise.