Plan B Forum

After a tough decade for tourism, the US seeks new ways to attract travellers,
writes Harriet Edleson.



There was a time when just the mention of the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Coast Highway or New York's skyline was enough to entice tourists from around the world. But that was before September 11, 2001, and the rise of security barriers to entering the US, and before Asia's economic renaissance drew travellers there.

So next month, the US will begin a co-ordinated effort to market itself overseas, using billboards, social media, public relations, trade shows and educational campaigns.

The marketing effort grows out of a 2010 law, the Travel Promotion Act. The US Travel Association had noted that the US share of global travel had declined between 2000-2010 and that the country's economy was losing billions of dollars in visitor spending as a result.

The law created a non-profit travel promotion corporation, known as Brand USA, which is financed with public and private money, to run the marketing campaign. While the number of visitors to the US has risen during the past 10 years, the number of travellers worldwide has grown even more. As a result, the country's share of the total travel market is down to 11.2 per cent in 2010 from 17.3 per cent in 2000.

"After September 11, the perception formed around the world that America was not as welcoming as it once was, that there was difficulty in accessing the visa and the entry process through customs was inefficient," Geoff Freeman, the US Travel Association's chief operations officer, says.

"Interest in America is high ... but there has been the perception that 'America isn't interested in me so I won't go'. 'Go away' was the message we were sending."

Freeman says people who have been to the US will return, despite the obstacles perceived or real. "But younger travellers or those who haven't been would go elsewhere," he says.

Brand USA is relying on a combination of private funds and a $14 fee for each traveller from the 36 countries whose citizens do not need a visa to enter the US to raise $150 million this year. So far, Marriott International, the Walt Disney Company and Best Western International have also agreed to invest $1 million each.

The competition to attract tourists includes nine countries that spend from $50 million to more than $150 million annually to promote themselves: Australia ($106.7 million), Britain ($160 million), Canada ($91.9 million), France ($96 million), Germany ($50.8 million), Italy ($56.6 million), Mexico ($173.8 million), South Korea ($80.5 million) and Turkey ($96.8 million). .

"We're the last to the party," Chris Perkins, the chief marketing officer for Brand USA, says.

The US Travel Association will be working with Brand USA at the annual International Pow Wow event in Los Angeles on April 21-25, at which representatives from 70 countries will come to buy travel products they then repackage and sell in their countries.

The goal of Brand USA, set to last until September 2015, is to generate "a tremendous amount of inbound tourism that turns into an economic driver", Perkins says.

- The New York Times



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-new ... z1ryW6Yaig

Gob wrote:Funnily enough Dales, when Jim and I spoke the other day, the whole "here is where the hippy phenomena kicked off" idea was one of the draws to the USA for me. I'm sure there’s a lot of people my age who would love to see Height -Ashbury, Woodstock, The Fillmore etc.

To be generous, they were a mere shell of their former selves.

(there's a reason that one of their other hits is a sympathetic look at abusing your significant other)