Last to the Party, But Not Fashionably Late

Last to the Party, But Not Fashionably Late

brandusa

The United States of America has embarked on a marketing campaign to promote the travel-ability of the country to foreign tourists. Though the travel market has grown, and even the amount of visitors to the U.S. has increased year by year, the United States has seen its share of the tourism market decline in percentages. 9-11 played a large role in diverting tourism from the U.S. to other countries (or nowhere at all), but countries with economic and infrastructural booms, such as Asia, have also cut into the USA’s share of the pie.

Following the U.S. Travel Association‘s findings that the United States’ portion of global travel has steadily declined throughout the first decade of the new millennium, they helped push the Travel Promotion Act of 2010 into law, which, in turn, helped create a new marketing campaign and agency.

discoveramericaBrand USA is the product of this law – a new nonprofit corporation dedicated to travel promotion and increasing the United States’ tourism and international visitation. The US of A is finally stepping into the party, though somewhat late, forming advertising campaigns in the form of billboards, commercials, and other promotional ventures. These advertisements will be featured in several countries, beginning with Britain, Canada, and Japan, and then hopefully expanding into China, Mexico, India, and others, if all goes well.

With this new agency and the parallel campaigns, the United States is finally admitting that it cannot simply do nothing and retain tourists; the USA is not as self-promoting as it used to be. With the influx of tourists come added jobs; the NY Times article (Selling America Abroad) states that “travel industry research shows that for every 35 foreign visitors, one new job is created.”

Though its consumer website, Discover America, shows many of the largest and most popular cities, the agency also hopes to promote tourism to other parts of the country that are not on most travelers’ agendas.

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