Niharika Shukla – New Delhi
Brand USA recently conducted its second India Travel Mission in Mumbai and New Delhi respectively with an aim to promote USA as a major tourist destination among Indian travellers. About 46 representatives from 31 US companies were present at the event. According to Jay Gray, vice president – global partnership development, Brand USA, an online and digital campaign for tourism promotion will be launched soon and are expecting tourism numbers to rise to one million by 2015. As per statistics 7.25 lakh Indians visited the US in 2012 as compared to 6.63 lakh visitors in 2011. Despite the downfall of the economy, the growth in the first quarter of 2013 was 14.7 per cent because of the recent developements in VFR traffic.
When asked about the current problems and strategies being adopted to increase Indian tourist inflow to the US, Gray added, “Earlier tourist visits to the US were low but then President Barack Obama started national programmes specifically for the development of tourism and travel industry. Today there are more travellers to the US than the airline routes. Hence we are getting in touch with the airlines so that the frequencies of routes can be increased. Other than this we are also planning to come up with FAM trips, trade fairs and roadshows to increase the opportunities for people to know the destination better.”
Present amongst the Brand USA delegates was also a delegation from Las Vegas. A lot of interesting factors about choosing Las Vegas as a destination were brought out. Apart from casinos and clubs, Las Vegas also has many adventure activities that are being organised-Flight Lines, Ferrari race track, Sky Diving etc. Apart from that Las Vegas offers Michael Jackson shows, comedy shows, a variety of dining options to name a few.
