A newcomer in the tourism marketing, Brand USA is the country’s first nationwide effort to promote the United States as a tourist destination. Before the formation of the group in 2010, the task of attracting tourists was left to the individual states and cities.
President and CEO Christopher Thompson explained: “The opportunity for us now is to build a platform and foundation for cooperative marketing and put it into place to fully optimize what we want to achieve.”
Since beginning full-fledged operations as a private-public entity in 2011, Brand USA made the biggest impact in neighboring Canada, followed by its southern neighbor Mexico and trailed by the UK and Japan.
With representative offices in more than 40 countries, Brand USA has built close ties with the global travel industry, spreading the word about visiting the United States any time of the year, with its very diverse destinations and holiday offerings.
According to Thompson, Brand USA has identified Japan as a strong traditional market. In fact, the group recently won the “Outstanding Promotional Award” given out by the Japan National Tourism Organization.
“In the next five years we’re going to be an inspiration. We have the unique ability to leverage the U.S. brand, which is an enormous opportunity,” said Thompson
Thompson added that the next step for Brand USA is a digital platform for its consumers and online training program for the travel and tourism sectors to learn more about the United States.
