Spread the love
Post Views: 11

Up to 150 members of the tourism sector attended Visit USA Organisation’s industry networking breakfast at Dolton House Sydney this morning (Fri 22 Feb), featuring a Mumbrella style panel discussion on the latest trends in outbound travel

Hosting the panel, Damien Francis, Head of Paid Content from Mumbrella led the questions for an open forum discussion amongst key guest speakers, Avi Mannis – Senior Vice President at Hawaiian Airlines, Ms Anne Madison – Chief Strategy and Communications Officer for Brand USA, Ms Carolyn Childs – CEO and Co Founder of My Travel Research and Tara Harris – Head of Media at Intrepid Travel.

Responding to Damien’s question on trends in travel to the USA, Anne Madison, Chief Strategy and Communications Officer for Brand USA noted growth to be a major key trend coming out of Australia. “The USA has more repeat business than ever before with Australian travellers staying 21 to 22 nights,” said Madison.

Adding “Statistics from the National Travel & Tourism Office highlight that 72% of Australian travellers to the U.S. are repeat visitors and the Australian market is projected to grow 22% between 2017-2023.”

“We’re also seeing Australians travelling to five, six and sometimes seven US states, and that’s really gratifying for us, because it’s a big part of Brand USA’s role to market the entire USA.

“As marketers Brand USA, Visit USA and all the many US tourism partners that are active in Australia to drive growth are providing an emotional connection that is really important to Australians.  Every 15 seconds a baby boomer becomes a silver traveller, and this silver traveller describes the USA as adventurous, friendly and energetic, as such today we’re connecting those opportunities with them.”

Also addressing the captive audience from Brand USA was Amanda Davis, Manager of Global Travel for Brand USA who presented their content strategy of To, Through and Beyond the gateways on a musical journey through the USA.

The event welcomed sponsors Hawaiian Airlines, with Andrew Stanbury, Regional director Australia and NZ Hawaiian Airlines drawing the major prize give-away including return airfares, and a three-nights stay at Surfjack Hotel from Aqua Aston Hotels won by Claire Haggarty of Insight Vacations.