Brand USA has announced plans to continue its Travel Week concept in Europe for the next six years, with the business-to-business event taking place in the UK every two years.
The marketing association’s inaugural Travel Week takes place this week in London, with hosted buyers meeting with US-based suppliers for networking, business sessions and social events.
Next year’s event will also take place in London, before heading to Germany, France and the Netherlands in rotation with the UK until 2025.
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The move to hold a standalone US B2B event comes as Brand USA is set to reduce its presence at established trade shows such as WTM in London and ITB in Berlin.
Brand USA chief executive Chris Thompson said: “WTM has become a very large show and the size of the show has made it difficult for some to navigate it and make it efficient and effective.”
He added: “We will still have a presence (at shows such as WTM and ITB) as long as our members want us to be there, but that presence will be very different.”
Thompson said the decision to hold a pan-European event was reflective of Brand USA’s strategy of assessing Europe as a single target market for USA travel.
He also said he was confident that Brand USA itself would receive the reauthorisation it requires from the US government to allow it to continue its work for the five years from September 2020.
“I am not losing any sleep – our story is as compelling as ever,” he said. “We have strong bipartisan support, as we always have done, and we are very confident that it (reauthorisation) will happen by the end of the year.”
