Massive marketing plan to promoto USA unveiled

The US travel industry has unveiled plans for a massive campaign “on the scale of the Apollo Project” to attract visits to the US and restore the country’s lost market share.

The US is likely to receive 52 million visitors this year, its highest ever annual total – but, at the same time, its share of international travel has dropped by double digits since 2000. Market share has plunged by 35% since 1992, plummeting to an all-time low. Jay Rasulo, national chairman of the US Travel Industry Association (TIA) and chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, told Pow Wow in Orlando the cost of this market-share loss to the US economy over this period had been $20 billion a year.

To build America’s market share, the TIA Board has committed US$500,000 to a campaign aimed at raising $US5 million from the industry. The campaign will aim to “get a better seat” for the industry at the US government’s table, commensurate with the industry’s importance as a revenue generator and employer. An effort on the scale of the Apollo Project (which put man on the Moon) was required, Rasulo said.

Once the ball is rolling, more money should flow – that’s the plan. TIA has drawn up a comprehensive, US$300 million spending plan to redress the market share loss. TIA president and chief executive, Roger Dow, said the US had to look at “our historical share, where have we lost share and where are these people going.

“US$300 million is the number we’re looking for,” he confirmed. He agreed that more money needed to be spent on smaller markets.

2006 will be a pivotal year for the travel industry, according to Rasulo. If inbound traveller numbers reach 52 million as expected, they will surpass the previous record year of 2000, when 51 million visitors arrived. Arrivals dipped after the 2001 attack on New York and have taken five years to recover. Official US travel statistics show 581,773 Australians arrived in 2005, compared to 519,955 in 2004 – a healthy increase of 12%, well ahead of overall visitor growth of 7%. Australian visitor numbers fell for three consecutive years from 2001 before starting to recover in 2004.

Rasulo said international travel was poised for “explosive growth” and was likely to double over the next 15 years. “Simply put, travel is going to be one of the most, if not the most, significant growth industry in the world.”

Dow said that new figures showed online bookings were now the norm for travel, having leapt in 2005 by 25% (compared to the previous year) for flight and rental car bookings and by 9% for accommodation bookings.

“2005 was the first time more trips were booked online than by any other method,” he said.

Dow added that Pow Wow 2006 had involved 5200 attendees, 1680 international buyers, 3520 US delegates, 1160 booths and 288 international press. He said 99.1% of mutual requests for appointments had been honoured.

By UK Mole