International sales missions to developing markets are a critical platform in Brand USA’s marketing strategy. During these trade missions, Brand USA and participants met with tour operators, airlines, travel agents, incentive and meeting planners, and media at a variety of planned events and functions.
In 2016, the the United States and China celebrated the U.S. - China Tourism Year which highlighted the important role that the United States and China play in each other’s tourism sectors. The Tourism Year focused on mutually beneficial enhancements of travel and tourism experiences, cultural understanding and appreciation of natural resources within the travel industries of both countries and among U.S. and Chinese travelers.
The Tourism Year brought partners to the table where our public-private partnership was on full display. Our successes included high-profile events and media, new partner programs, China readiness training, and recognition of the importance of travel and tourism at the highest levels of industry and government. You can read more about the Tourism Year here.
Building on this success, the U.S. travel and tourism industry's engagement with China continues to grow. In March 2017, Brand USA hosted its first ever China Sales Mission to reach six cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Shenyang. The mission coincided with new flight routes by Hainan Airlines, which recently opened two weekly nonstop flights from Western China to Los Angeles, California. The service will help foster tourism growth from China to the United States.
In total, 2,280 travel industry appointments were conducted by the mission participants in the six key Chinese markets. In each city, guests were welcomed by local U.S. Embassy and U.S. Consulate representatives as well as given market briefing by Brand USA’s in-market representatives. Brand USA trade partners also had several opportunities to engage with local media through media interviews held in all six cities.
Brand USA also hosted its first-ever Japan & South Korea Sales Mission on July 9-13 2017. A total of twenty-one U.S. industry partners participated in the mission.
As part of the mission, Brand USA South Korea organized B2B appointment sessions inviting 62 travel agents from 36 companies. Each individual agent had 21 sets of 15-minute one-on-one appointments with U.S. delegates. As a result, 462 B2B appointment sessions were conducted. Brand USA South Korea also invited over 140 travel agents, media and U.S. partners to "Go USA Theater" VIP dinner event in the evening session. The theme of the dinner was American Movies to highlight American culture through a movie and also to introduce the next Brand USA’s movie, America’s Treasures. During the dinner, Brand USA South Korea played it’s own work achievement short film and showcased the musical performance of popular Hollywood movie, La La Land.
Brand USA South Korea team received numerous thank-you’s and congratulatory messages from Korean travel agents who attended both the Brand USA Sales Mission and the dinner. With almost 1.8 million Korean visitors to the U.S. in 2015, Korea is now the eighth largest market for the United States. Brand USA projects South Korea could become the sixth largest market as Korean visitors are expected to surpass 2.52 million within 5 years.
Brand USA looks forward to building on the success in upcoming sales missions.