Travel South USA aims to boost British sales

Southern news by Alan Moore

Travel South USA aims to boost British sales

Atlanta consortium considers PR support

TRAVEL South USA, the Atlanta-based marketing consortium representing 12 US southern states, may revive some form of group PR presence in the UK next year.

Managing director Glen Couvillon admitted that the closure of Travel South’s London office three years ago has left a big gap in creating consumer awareness of the region.

He also said that the UK representative offices of the various member states – of which 10 out of the 12 states are represented – have concentrated on the development of the product at the expense of effective public relations.

He said: “Each state pays $15,000 a year into Travel South’s international support programme but not all contributors get an equal share of the overall exposure as some states’ own budgets can be far greater than others.

“PR is also not coming across strongly enough from UK representatives, so the impact on the consumer has not been there.

“We are now looking at reintroducing some form of PR programme in the UK and this will be discussed at the next board meeting,” he said.

Couvillon said he had not been in favour of the closure of the Travel South London office, which was financed to the tune of $152,000 a year, and added that its membership had grown due to its own UK representation.

He said: “There is still a lot of misconception about what the South offers following the negative feedback from UK consumer focus groups.

“The majority of Britons questioned thought the South was situated inland, whereas the majority of it is coastal. They also thought it was harder to get to but in fact the South has more non-stop flights from the UK than any other region in the US.”

Couvillon also said there was a strong view that the South remained as it was more than 100 years ago, with racial tension.

“One of the reasons for this is that UK representatives are not really dealing with consumers,” he said. “They have been concentrating on the trade and getting packages developed. We’ve got the product on the shelves but nobody knows it’s there.

“It is also vital to have southern-based industry people at UK consumer shows because the public want to know specific things about the destinations.”

Georgia: Travel South USAbelieves there is a lot of confusion in the UK about what the South actually offers