Brand USA President & CEO Chris Thompson opened the IPW23 travel industry conference in San Antonio, Texas with a bang, sharing his optimism for the sector and the current state of US tourism to the international media.
While forecasters have predicted the US won’t reach pre-pandemic visitation levels until 2025, the Brand USA head honcho, a 40-year industry veteran, said he is optimistic that visitation will return to 2019 levels by the end of 2024.
“I’m more optimistic about the travel industry than I have been in the past 40 years,” Mr Thompson began.
“And I can honestly say I don’t think there’s been a more impactful moment for us to be doing what we’re doing in this particular time.
“While much in travel has changed over the 40 years, especially technology’s impact on how we travel, what hasn’t changed and probably has even strengthened over these very challenging last three years is travel’s ability connect people and cultures.”
Referencing current global challenges, he said the travel industry has faced similar issues before. He believed that the US position was strong due to the recent relaxation of COVID-era restrictions on 12 May 2023.
This is supported by increased hotel capacity with 154,000 rooms under construction this year. Air travel is also in high demand with airline connectivity now at 96 per cent of 2019 levels.
A recent survey found 43 per cent of people are saving more money in their travel budgets than ever and one out of every two travellers is planning a long-haul trip.
He said the USA’s biggest drawcard is its diversity of experiences and that its “one-of-a-kind pop culture can only be experienced in the US” is what makes it different.
He also revealed that the DMO is focused on moving travellers from aspiration to action, using targeted marketing in a new campaign to find what resonates with travellers.
Brand USA’s key campaign themes are Outdoor Experiences, Luxury Experiences, Culinary Experiences, Film and Entertainment and Sports Tourism.
Travel challenges
Current struggles with tourism conversion include currency fluctuations, inflation and visa processing, which the U.S. Travel Association is working on reducing to a 30-day turnaround.
Regarding the currency challenges faced in many of the US target markets, Mr Thompson said Brand USA is committed to moving travellers beyond the gateway cities to lesser-known locations that allow people to experience more and in a range of price points. It’s a focus that will help the travel trade, too.
“The biggest challenge we have is to make sure that people understand we have 50 states, five territories and the District of Columbia for people to dive into further beyond the gateways,” he said.
“The driver being about the diversity of geography, the diversity of experiences, the diversity of people.
“It’s even more important for us to continue to focus on the diversity of the opportunity, the experiences and the different price points and ways that you can package them.”
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