The newly-formed tourist board for the US is planning a multi-state “über-fam” to showcase the destination to agents.
The educational, which is still in the planning stages but could run along similar lines to Tourism Australia’s biennial Corroboree event, is due to be hosted by Brand USA in 2013.
Brand USA, which is funded by a combination of Esta visa waiver charges and industry contributions, launched its first multimedia advertising campaign this week with a UK budget over three months of more than £2.3 million.
The campaign features TV, print, billboard and social media elements, and focuses on an original song written by Grammy Award-winning singer Rosanne Cash, daughter of country music legend Johnny Cash.
In addition to the advertising campaign, Brand USA is also developing a trade strategy including the fam trip and opportunities for travel firms to receive “matched funding” for their own US sales and marketing campaigns.
Guy Chambers, UK managing director, said: “The trade will be key to this activity, and we need it to embrace the Brand USA logo and the new DiscoverAmerica.com website in its US activity.
“The onus is now on travel firms, from the smallest agent to the largest airline, to come to us and see how we can upweight their activity and drive incremental sales growth.”
Account director Gerry Boyle added: “We are in negotiations with the airlines about the fam trip. It needs to be ‘gateway and beyond’, so we’ll be looking at two or three states at least.”