The Largest U.S. Delegation Joins Brand USA’s Fifth Annual India Mission
Brand USA's Fifth Annual India Mission, attracting the largest United States delegation ever to engage with the India travel trade, received an enthusiastic response from both U.S. travel partners and the India travel representatives.
The U.S. delegation – comprised of 52 delegates and 37 U.S. companies including destinations, attractions and hotels – traveled across the Indian cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, and New Delhi from September 18-23.
“As the number of Indian visitors to the United States continues to grow, the opportunities within India as a source market are numerous,” Brand USA President and CEO Chris Thompson said. “In 2015, more than 1.1 million Indians visited the United States, a 17 percent increase over 2014."
Thompson said the India mission provided “a great platform for our partners to generate more business from this increasingly productive market.”
Sheema Vohra, Brand USA’s managing director in India, agreed: “Brand USA’s robust travel trade outreach, coupled with effective consumer marketing, cooperative engagements and PR in India, ensures new developments and partnerships in this market, offering a bouquet of travel offering to the discerning Indian visitor.”
She said Brand USA was excited about the huge turnout of the India travel trade in all three cities and “are confident that this trend will continue over the next decade providing an excellent opportunity for our Indian travel partners to cultivate lucrative business opportunities with the USA."
Kicking off the mission, Brand USA premiered in Mumbai its film, “America Wild: National Parks Adventure,” a 45-minute film celebrating the centennial anniversary of the U.S. National Parks System. The film, produced with MacGillivray Freeman Films in partnership with Brand USA, showcases the fascinating history and expansive beauty of the national parks. The film was shown to senior travel trade personnel, Indian film representatives, the media and staff of the U.S. Consulate.
Networking dinners, held in Mumbai and New Delhi, included 150 senior guests from travel companies, airlines, media, and U.S. commercial services. Richard Verma, the U.S. Ambassador to India, attended the VIP dinner in New Delhi.
During the three-city mission, U.S. suppliers met with over 734 key travel decision makers, during one-on-one appointments aimed at increasing destination and product knowledge, business cooperation and travel bookings. A media day, held in New Delhi, attracted 65 travel trade and consumer media to meet U.S. partners.
Meanwhile, Brand USA India has held 10 “Discover America” Educational Seminars, training 950 agents in ten cities in India in 2015-16. In June and July alone, Brand USA conducted a sales blitz in Indore and Bhopal in June and Lucknow, Jaipur, Nagpur, Surat, Pune, Coimbatore in July.
Aiming to reach even more travel agents and tour operators in India, Brand USA India has scheduled training sessions for November, December, and January and March in 2017 in the nine cities – Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, and Chandigarh.
The focus for these sessions will be on Brand USA’s “All Within Your Reach” campaign, which illustrates how much of the United States that an international traveler can experience with visiting only one gateway city. Each city is within reach of many exciting travel adventures.
