Brand USA Newsletter - November 2019

Brand USA's board of directors met on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at Brand USA headquarters in Washington, DC. The board elected a new chair and vice chair and bid farewell to two long-serving members. The board also received glowing reports about the inaugural Brand USA Travel Week Europe and the annual U.S. — China Tourism Leadership Summit. Additional conversations included a 2020 market outlook, a discussion about Brand USA efforts in India, and updates about marquee marketing efforts. A recording of the board meeting is available here.

Board Officers

The Brand USA board of directors voted to elect a new chair and vice chair. The new chair of the board is John Edman, director of Explore Minnesota Tourism. He was first appointed to the board in fiscal year 2015 to represent one of the two state tourism director seats and was reappointed in 2018. The vice chairs are newly elected Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, representing the hotel accommodates sector, serving along with re-elected Alice Norsworthy, chief marketing officer of Universal Parks and Resorts, representing the attractions or recreation sector. The re-elected treasurer of the board is Kyle Edmiston, president/chief executive officer for Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau, representing an official of a city convention and visitors bureau.

The meeting marked the end of tenures for two board members: Barbara Richardson and Andrew Greenfield. Both have served the maximum of two consecutive, three-year terms. Richardson has served the past two years as chair of the board. She is chief of external relations at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Greenfield, who has been board secretary, is a managing partner in the Washington, DC office of Fragomen, an immigration law firm.

Brand USA Travel Week Europe

Brand USA staff recapped for the board takeaways from the inaugural Brand USA Travel Week Europe.

Overall, Brand USA Travel Week Europe drew 530 attendees. Among them were 140 tour operators from across Europe and 97 U.S. exhibitors. These buyers and sellers, collectively, had more than 3,400 pre-set, individual appointments with each other during the event.

Brand USA Travel Week Europe reinforces Brand USA’s “one Europe strategy,” a marketing approach that views the 20 countries of Europe as a single source market for inbound travel to the United States. As a single entity, Europe is the third-largest source market for inbound travel to the United States and the top overseas market. In 2018, the United States welcomed 15.4 European travelers. Canada (21.5 million) and Mexico (18.5 million) continue to be the top-two international inbound travel markets.

The “one Europe strategy” has paralleled an upswing in air service from Europe to the USA. Air carriers now operate 406 U.S.-bound routes from 33 European airports. The carriers have also expanded their capacity with these flights by adding 7.8 million seats over the past two years.

A survey of the European tour operators and U.S. suppliers who were at the first-ever Brand USA Travel Week, Sept. 9-13 in London, showed the event to be a major success. Virtually all of the survey respondents – 98 percent – said Travel Week helped them to achieve their goals.

The success of this inaugural Brand USA Travel Week Europe has prompted Brand USA to plan an annual Brand USA Travel Week Europe for each of the upcoming six years. Next year, it will again be held in London, then in Germany for 2021, then back to the UK for 2022, then France for 2023, then UK for 2024, and the Netherlands for 2025.

U.S. — China Tourism Leadership Summit

Regardless of the trade tensions which currently exist between the governments of China and the United States, consumer interest remains strong—and it’s important that we maintain our presence so we don’t lose ground over the long-term. This was evident at the 13th annual U.S. — China Tourism Leadership Summit, held Sept. 17-21 in Seattle, Washington.

Optimism was especially notable among top U.S. and Chinese tourism and government leaders. They are the people who set the tone for their respective spheres of influence. The U.S. delegation of 150 tourism leaders at the summit included more than two dozen CEOs.

For U.S. leaders, it’s significant that China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) has shown strong interest in advancing tourism ties between the two countries. MCT is a newly formed Chinese government agency which took in the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) to oversee cultural activities and tourism in the country. The Ministry implements policies and programs in support of tourism development and regulation.

As the host city for this year’s summit, Seattle showed off a range of its signature attractions. Some highlights included the Tillicum Excursion, Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Boeing Future of Flight, and the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, among others. 

Based on China market insights shared at the board meeting, Brand USA has adopted a “China 20” strategy in its approach to the market. This strategy recognizes that of China’s 1.4 billion people, 120 million are passport holders, and 20 million of those passport holders take yearly, long-haul trips for pleasure. 

With this in mind, Brand USA ‘s marketing goals for China are to:

• identify and target the 20 million Chinese travelers with inspiring messages that entice them to visit the United States;
• provide customized ways for stakeholders to also identify and target the 20 million; and
• develop a marketing campaign to guide this effort.

It will also be important to implement messaging which welcomes Chinese travelers. Brand USA is working with a prominent influencer on social media to develop “Welcome to America” videos to counter any negative perceptions.

India Ready Training

During 2018, 1.4 million travelers from India came to the United States. This level of visitation allowed India to become one of the top-10 source markets for inbound arrivals.

India is a major growth market, and as such, we maintain a fully deployed marketing presence there. Brand USA is uniquely situated to engage in government-led initiatives and is actively working with the National Travel and Tourism Office at the U.S. Department of Commerce to help support travel and tourism issues under the U.S. – India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.

As part of this joint focus on India, in September Brand USA launched its “India Ready” training program. The purpose of the India ready training is to: provide cultural and service training for key tourism segments; help establish a standard level of service for Indian visitors; and increase the number of U.S. destinations that actively market, partner, and engage in India, as well as the overall level of investment by the U.S. travel and tourism industry in the market.

Brand USA introduced the “India Ready” program during its yearly sales mission to India, held Sept. 22-27. The mission – with stops in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai – allowed 55 delegates, representing 40 of Brand USA’s industry partners, to meet with 800 members of India’s travel-trade. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Travel and Tourism Phil Lovas joined the mission to help launch the training program.

Beginning in 2020, Brand USA will replace its annual sales mission with a new Brand USA Travel Week for the Indian market. It will run Oct. 5-9, 2020, in Delhi, and will include the training program as a key element for exhibitors.

Into America’s Wild

Brand USA’s third giant-screen film, “Into America’s Wild,” will have its world-premiere screening, Feb. 4, 2020, at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. A global roll-out of the film follows during the early part of the new year.

The film depicts an outdoors journey by John Herrington, the first Native-American astronaut, and Ariel Tweto, an Alaskan pilot, to scenic byways, hidden trails, ancient homelands, and other destinations that reveal the splendor of America’s landscape. Morgan Freeman narrates the film.

As with its two previous documentaries, Brand USA partnered with MacGillivray Freeman Films to create “Into America’s Wild.” Expedia and United Airlines have taken sponsorship roles.

Here is updated information regarding Brand USA’s first two films:

• “National Parks Adventure,” released in 2016, also follows an on-screen journey through the great outdoors of the USA. The film, narrated by Robert Redford, features a number of U.S. national parks as destinations.
• It has been seen by more than 4 million viewers around the world. And, it is now showing in a dozen international cities. Viewers have been able to watch it on Netflix since February 2018.
• Brand USA’s second film is “America’s Musical Journey.” Released in 2018, the film traces the roots of American music. Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Aloe Blacc takes viewers on a tour of cities and towns across the nation which are known for their connections to specific genres of American music.
• More than a million viewers have seen the film. It is showing in nine international cities, and will be available on GoUSA TV this month.  

​Current campaigns

• “Hear the Music” – The second year of this campaign concentrated on social and video storytelling, which led to more engagement and cost efficiency compared to the campaign’s first year.
• The campaign garnered 2.05 billion impressions, and the number of social engagements has jumped 105 percent to 648 thousand.
• “United Stories” – Launched in early 2019, this storytelling-style campaign uses mobile, content-creation labs (such as cars and boats) to travel along designated routes and collect video stories from influencers, locals and visitors regarding their favorite places.
• This year, the campaign visited 26 destinations and created in excess of 450 pieces of content. This generated 8.2 million social engagements; 169 million video views; and 86.1 million minutes of YouTube views.
• The second year of the campaign will focus on YouTube and highlight regional travel stories which show travelers how to take advantage of multiple experiences within proximity of each other.