A BROADER APPEAL: Destinations raise their game and offer amenities to appeal to new audiences.

• Author: Saylor, Ten
• Position: DESTINATION NORTH CAROLINA

Art, wellness and special amenities that appeal to frequent business and leisure travelers --and local residents --are the leading trends in destination marketing, designed to attract a new range of clientele for high-end hotels, resorts and popular areas in North Carolina.

Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau knows its region's success depends on cultivating visitors of the future while serving existing customers.

Banking on the power of local influences, the CVB has launched a digital Locals' Guide to showcase the best the area has to offer.

Through feature articles, blogs, videos, photos and interviews, dozens of notable local chefs, musicians, artists, brewers, surfers, entrepreneurs and others share what they love most about Wilmington and the area beaches.

In Cary, The Umstead Hotel and Spa, a luxury property nestled on 18 acres of forestland, has long been a favorite destination.

Inside its sumptuous interior, it is hard to imagine the 12-year-old hotel is just yards from Interstate 40 and a 20-minute ride into the hearts of both Raleigh and Durham.

The Umstead had been open for business for just two years when general manager Jim Beley arrived in 2009. He began rebranding the property as a haven for art, nature and wellness, evoking the vision of owners Jim and Ann Goodnight, who built the hotel and spa just a stone's throw from SAS Institute, the software corporation Jim Goodnight co-founded.

Most of the art featured throughout the hotel's public areas is part of Ann Goodnight's personal collection, handpicked for the hotel.

In a comfortable sitting room just off the hotel lobby, Beley points to a large work depicting a wooded scene, with trees showing off their skeleton branches, the ground dusted with snow. The painting is by Lynn Boggess, an impressionist painter from West Virginia and one of Goodnight's favorite artists.

In that same room, sitting front and center on a mound of brilliant green, live moss, is The Umstead's showpiece --a glorious blown-glass sculpture commissioned from artist Dale Chihuly.

The Umstead hosts artist receptions and arranges tours for the public, either self-guided or led by the hotel's art and design coordinator, who also helps guests procure any art that is for sale in the gallery.

Art is also front and center at the newly renovated Grandover Resort, featuring a spa, 36 holes of golf, and 45,000 square feet of meeting space, which has made it a prime destination for conferences and...