Brand USA targets 13 lakh Indian tourists by 2016

Most Indians hold a desire of living the American dream. Do an equal number also look at the U.S. as a preferred holiday destination? To attract travel enthusiasts from across the globe to the country and rekindle the holidaymaker’s interest, the global superpower has embarked on a fresh campaign, spearheaded by Brand USA.

Brand USA is a public-private entity established by the Travel Promotion Act in 2010 to market the United States as a preferred travel destination for travellers across the globe. The first global marketing effort by the country to promote tourism in the country, Brand USA, is akin to our very own Incredible India campaign launched by the Ministry of Tourism in 2002. The difference, however, lies in the funding. Brand USA will get contributions from different verticals of the industry- tour operators, hotel chains, airlines which the U.S. Federal Government will then match its own contributions to.

The new tourism marketing entity led the sixth and largest travel mission to India, consisting of 50 delegates representing 35 U.S. destinations and companies, who visited New Delhi and Mumbai recently.
Discover U.S.

Jay Gray, Vice President, Partnership Development, Brand USA addressing media, New Delhi

Brand USA is using the ‘Discover like Never Before’ theme to create a compelling connect. The theme encapsulates two ideas- to attract the first time travellers and to renew the interest of the travellers who have visited the country before, by introducing them to places beyond the conventional tourist spots.

According to Jay Gray, Vice President, Partnership Development, at Brand USA, the need for such an agency germinated from the realisation that the market share of the U.S. was staying flat, even while international travel, the world over, was witnessing a rise.

The economic slowdown all over has had a ripple effect on the travel & tourism industry, with several people curbing their holiday plans to save for a rainy day. If the figures shared by Gray are anything to go by, Indians certainly don’t come in this bracket. “For a lot of our international markets, the growth is flat at 1-2 per cent but India is seeing a 12 per cent growth year on year,” says Gray. We had projected a 2 per cent growth from India last year. With India being one of the key markets for U.S., the agency is nursing a target of achieving 13 lakh international travellers from India by 2016 and close to 1.5-1.6 crore by 2020.

To market and drive awareness in India, it will follow a two phased approach. The first phase will be at a B2B level, wherein Brand USA and its repertoire of hotel representatives, tour operators, among others will engage with the travel trade in India. There will be road shows to educate the local trade about this new entity. The next phase, which will kick-start next year, will see consumer campaigns and representation on different media platforms.

While these activities have already started in countries like UK, Canada and Japan; China and Brazil, besides India, are the other emerging markets that will see the next round of campaigns by Brand USA. While mature markets like Australia, Germany, Italy, to name a few, will comprise the next tier of target markets.

Gray did not divulge the investment earmarked for India operations stating spends in India to be ‘significant enough to have high impact and high visibility’. At an overall level, however, close to 12.3 million dollars were spent in the initial campaign spread across UK, Canada, and Japan for a duration of three months and according to Gray, investments for the next round of markets will be in the range of 3 million to 1.5 million per market; a figure that is reliant on the type of market and the cost of media