THE new UKoffice of the Travel Industry Association of America is targeting consumers with the launch of two print advertising campaigns.
The first, to be staged in the autumn, will promote US skiing holidays, followed by another in spring next year flagging the US’s cultural heritage. Both will be backed by incentives, including a free trip for two to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and free US travel and discounted travel books for the second campaign.
The cultural heritage marketing initiative will double as a US travel book promotion called Distinctly American, and be run in conjunction with a UK financial services company, a UK book distributor and tour operators.
TIA senior vice-president of marketing Betsy Bromberg O’Rourke said: “The beauty of these campaigns is they will promote different aspects of the US travel product and, at the same time, pull together the many segments and components of the US travel and tourism product industry under a common theme.”
Later this year, TIA backs these up with the debut of a trade and consumer Web site that will link all US states, city visitor bureaus, travel attractions and US-based travel companies.
The association says phase one of the site – tentatively listed as www.seeamerica.org – will offer ‘one-stop shopping information’ for anyone interested in travel to the US.
Next year, it will feature a Hot Deals section listing new and discounted travel products.
In another related development, TIA – which operates the annual International Pow Wow US trade show – is creating a virtual marketplace on the Internet to enable international buyers and US suppliers to conduct business round the clock.
It will be an expanded version of its current Web site – www.tia.org – and the service will become available to those who attend Pow Wow.
n Brenda Hughes has been appointed manager international marketing – travel trade for TIA in London. She was previously tour and travel manager for the Nevada Commission Tourism.