IPW25, U.S. Travel Association’s biggest annual travel tradeshow event, has wrapped in Chicago with a bang, literally lighting up the sky with a fireworks display over Lake Michigan at the Closing Night Party on 18 June. Karryon was there to capture all the camaraderie and collaboration in US travel.
The Closing Night Party sealed the deal on what many in the Australian travel trade and media consider one of the top IPW events in recent years with kudos to Choose Chicago for staging engaging meetings, networking and events across four days.
Even rain couldn’t put a dampener on the Closing Night soirée with youth choirs, DJs, food stations, fireworks and mini golf.
Running from 15–18 June, IPW25 welcomed more than 5,000 delegates from 60-plus countries to Chicago.
It attracted nearly 1,800 travel buyers and media representatives, including 72 from Australia and New Zealand, which represented the second-highest ANZ delegation since 2024’s record attendance.
After the Visit USA ANZ Welcoming Party on Saturday, 14 June, IPW25 kicked off on Sunday with the Opening Night Party among prehistoric animals and precious stones at The Field Museum and was capped off with the Closing Night Party at Navy Pier.
Standout highlights included hosted baseball games at Wrigley Field, neighbourhood and attraction tours, a Late Night Pie in the Sky event with iconic Chicago eateries at Skydeck Chicago and the always popular Broadway lunch event.
In among the parties, the international travel trade, media and buyers attended the scheduled appointments and press conferences and made the most of chance meetings and networking opportunities.
Anecdotally, Australian travel media and buyers overwhelmingly reported positive and productive outcomes from IPW25 meetings.
Suppliers, hoteliers and destination marketing organisations (DMOs) were keen to promote the reality of US travel, removed from hyperbole, and work with Australia, one of the top 10 source markets.
Brand USA debuted its latest global campaign, ‘America the Beautiful’, at IPW25, while Destination DC President & CEO Elliott Ferguson urged international media to focus on the destination, not the government.
While almost all DMO CEOs (bar Ferguson) were reluctant to answer questions about the current US travel landscape publicly as the international media press conferences, the overarching positive message from each state was that the USA welcomes all international visitors.
Next year’s IPW26 will be a five-day event held in Greater Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from 17–21 May with the aqua blue-jacketed DMO team sharing the news in a dedicated presentation.For more info, visit ipw.com
