Despite the funding problems that many destination marketing organizations face, the U.S. has finally joined most of the developed world in getting its first national tourism office.
Created by federal law last year, the non-profit Corporation for Travel Promotion (CTP) hired its first chief executive in May and was expected to fill other key executive positions by the end of August. It plans to unveil its initial marketing campaign, including a brand for the United States as a travel destination, this November at the World Travel Market in London.
Operating under the auspices of the Department of Commerce, the CTC is expected to reverse the decline in America's share of the international travel market.
Since 2000, the global travel market has grown by more than 60 million travelers, but 2.4 million fewer international travelers visited the United States in 2009 than in 2000, costing the U.S. economy an estimated 441,000 jobs over that period and $509 billion in total spending, according to research conducted for the U.S. Travel Association by Oxford Economics.
"Every sector of the economy will benefit in the form of more heads in beds, more passengers on planes and trains, more international attendees at meetings and more customers at local businesses across the country," CTC chief executive Jim Evans says of his organization's anticipated marketing efforts.
Oxford Economics predicts that effective travel promotion could attract 1.6 million new international visitors to the U.S. annually and generate $4 billion in additional international consumer spending.
"The CTP will be particularly beneficial to the vast array of destinations and businesses that can't afford to market themselves to international destinations," Evans adds.
The CTP is funded in part by $10 of a $14 fee the federal government started collecting a year ago from visitors originating from countries that participate in the U.S. visa-waiver program. Under that program, citizens from participating countries do not need to obtain U.S. visas before arriving in the U.S.
The CTP hopes to create an initial annual budget of $150 million under a program by which the government will double whatever the industry contributes. The industry must contribute at least $10 million in cash, with the rest coming from donated goods and services.
"Marketing activities will include everything from a fully integrated global advertising campaign to marketing partnerships, participation at trade shows and on sales missions, promotion and incentive campaigns, social media strategies, and a robust public relations push," Evans says.