Brand USA Hosted Events to Attract India Travelers to Visit the United States
Brand USA concluded two recent events geared at fulfilling its mission to encourage travelers from India to visit the United States: a successful sales mission to India and a highly touted MegaFam tour of the USA.
These events come as part of Brand USA’s commitment to the U.S. - India Travel and Tourism Partnership Year, which allows both governments and private sectors to increase travel and tourism between the two countries.
Brand USA organized the Sixth Annual India Mission 2017 with 40 U.S. companies visiting the metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Chennai, and New Delhi. The U.S. contingent involved representatives from tourism boards, hotels, receptive operators, and tourist attractions, making up the largest group of visiting delegates to date.
The September 10-15, 2017 trade mission, which was attended by members of the India travel sector, included five days of business-to-business (B2B) sessions, panel discussions, and networking dinners where the U.S. delegates closely interacted with Indian business partners. One-on-one meetings with key decision makers enabled both sides to renew or forge business relationships. The India travel representatives also learn about all the unique travel opportunities available across the U.S.
"We are happy to see that visitation by Indian travelers to the United States is growing year-over-year,” said Chris Thompson, Brand USA’s president and chief executive officer. “With 1.17 million visitors in 2016, India was the 11th highest ranked country by arrival numbers. In visitor spending, however, India ranked sixth, higher than several countries with greater arrival numbers to the U.S. The annual India mission continues to be a major initiative for enhancing visitation from India."
"We are delighted that the Brand USA India Mission 2017 was an immense success at all cities they visited, giving our Indian business partners lucrative opportunities for business collaborations,” said Sheema Vohra, Brand USA’s managing director in India. “The tourism potential of New Age India is huge and our endeavor is to continue promoting the unparalleled tourism offerings of the United States of America to this stratum of discerning travelers."
Brand USA, meanwhile, knows the best way to convince others to try an experience is to share firsthand knowledge and that is exactly what the destination marketing company and Air India accomplished with the recent India MegaFam for nearly 30 travel trade professionals.
The MegaFam, which helps travel trade representatives educate and incentivize potential travelers to choose the U.S. as a travel destination, was held October 4-12, 2017. Groups of seven to ten travel professionals set off on one of three separate itineraries in the U.S – Washington, DC/Virginia; California; or Illinois/Wisconsin.
The Washington, DC/Virginia group visited sights including the Newseum, the Air & Space Museum, the U.S. Capitol, and George Washington’s home at Mt. Vernon in Virginia. The California group tour visits included: Monterey Cannery Row and Monterey Bay Museum in Monterey, Carmel, Point Lobos State Reserve and Santa Barbara. The Illinois and Wisconsin contingent visit included visits to Chicago’s Miracle Mile and 360 Chicago Observation Deck atop the John Hancock Center and the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.
Members of all three tours reconnected for a final event in Los Angeles, California where they shared their experiences. After the closing event, all three groups ended their tours with a visit to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and a private catamaran cruise on San Francisco Bay.
India is a key market for Brand USA with enormous growth potential because the U.S. currently captures only about 5.5 percent of the outbound Indian travel market. The U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office forecasts Indian arrivals to the United States will grow by 72 percent from 2015 through 2021.