“This is our time to look ahead, to innovate, to adapt and to shape what comes next together,” said Fred Dixon, president and CEO of Brand USA, at yesterday’s Future Forward enrichment session.
Speaking on day one of Travel Week, Dixon outlined Brand USA’s new global marketing initiative, America the Beautiful – a data-driven campaign and AI-powered platform that marks the organization’s most ambitious marketing initiative to date.
Expanding on the new initiative - which officially launched yesterday - Leah Chandler, Brand USA’s chief marketing officer, said it was Brand USA’s “first ever truly integrated brand campaign," marking “a new chapter” in its history.
“We want to tell the story of America bigger, bolder and more beautifully than ever before,” she said. “We’re showcasing the depth of experiences across the U.S., designed to appeal to families, outdoor enthusiasts and the culturally curious. This is rooted in authentic storytelling, showing the people, moments, sounds and feelings that make American travel unforgettable."
At the core of the new initiative is AmericaTheBeautiful.com, a new multilingual, AI-powered hub that will include interactive maps, itinerary-building tools and personalized travel recommendations.
“Our AI trip-planning chatbot will be woven into the entire journey,” said Chandler. “It will be an omnipresent guide that understands natural language, offers highly personalized recommendations and supports individual user needs.”
Increased airlift, new non-stop routes and mega events
Beyond the new campaign, Dixon painted a broader picture of the U.S. travel landscape and said figures for the year ahead were promising despite ongoing challenges. “Overseas arrivals through August were down 1.8%, but travel and tourism exports and direct spend for the same period were up year-over-year.”
He said nonstop transatlantic seat capacity now exceeded pre-pandemic levels and was expected to grow another 3% this year – hitting a record 49 million nonstop seats – with several new nonstop flight routes from the U.K. & Europe to the USA launching next year.
These include a British Airways service from London Heathrow to St. Louis; new Delta Air Lines flights from Rome and Barcelona to Seattle; and new United Airlines flights from Glasgow (Scotland), Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and Bari (Italy) to Newark.
“While performance is mixed across the U.K. and Europe, spending is up and non-stop seat capacity to the U.S. is up,” he said. “The current sentiment studies show the U.S. remains the number one long-haul destination international travelers are looking to visit.”
He noted that the U.K. remains the top source market for overseas visitation to the United States, with arrivals up 2% year to date.
“The U.K. and Europe remain our cornerstone source markets, representing 41% of all overseas travelers,” he said. “European spend in 2024 in the U.S. reached nearly $60bn, up 9% year-over-year, generating $128.8bn in total economic impact and supporting 800,000 American jobs. These numbers tell a powerful story: when Europeans visit, they stay longer, they explore more and they contribute meaningfully to the U.S.”
He said next year’s events were likely to give visitation a further boost, with America250, the FIFA World Cup and the Route 66 Centennial creating buzz across the country. Brand USA has curated 60 new World Cup-themed itineraries and 50 new road trips to inspire travel around the upcoming events.
“These aren’t just events on the calendar,” said Dixon. “They are cultural moments. They’re reasons to travel. They are stories waiting to be told.”