WTM 2011: Brand USA marketing campaign launches
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A new marketing campaign has been launched to collectively promote tourism to the United States of America. Brand USA, formerly the Corporation for Travel Promotion, is to invest US$200 million into the new campaign, in abid to increase visitor arrivals by 40% to 300 million by 2020.
Brand USA’s new promotion was launched at World Travel Market earlier this week and its advertising campaign is set to be unveiled at ITB Berlin. The news comes as the US continues to be a popular destination for Brits but is keen to boost visitor figures despite high airline fares.
Speaking at Visit USA’s WTM briefing today, Ruby Briggs from the North America Travel Service said that although growth in spend in the US had increased 8% per capita year-on-year, the number of passengers had not changed.
However, US routes have been launched or expanded this year by several airlines including Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. The latter is due to re-introduce an eighth daily flight from Heathrow to JFK in March and it will boost its Orlando frequency next year. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic is to boost its San Francisco flights next year and named January as a critical period for travel promotion and bookings in the UK. The airline’s Angus Bond warned the industry that city breaks and ski holidays could be in danger if more consumers opt to drop their second holiday due to financial constraints.