South-east Asia remains an integral market for Brand USA, the destination marketing organisation for the US, as the company looks to further grow their tourist numbers from the region.
Inbound arrivals from South-east Asia to the US totalled 810,000 last year and is slated to grow by 44 per cent to 1.2 million by 2023. This is also bolstered by increasing air connections, with Singapore Airlines having launched non-stop flights from Singapore to Seattle last month, on top of flying direct to New York and Los Angeles.
Speaking to TTG Asia on the sidelines of the South-east Asia Travel Exchange at ITB Asia, Brand USA’s Asia strategy advisor Jason Pacheco said: “If we are looking at where the new businesses are coming from, it’s Asia and we have to build a strong part of our strategy around it.”
Pacheco also hopes to attract more corporate incentives from the region.
One of Brand USA’s strategies for the South-east Asian market is developing travel products that are tailored to travellers.
Brand USA’s senior global trade development manager Louis Lu said: “We are not trying to sell packages, but are putting forth experiences and ideas for tour operators to tailor (their packages) to the requirements of their customers.”
Besides South-east Asia, Brand USA is also keen to tap the Indian tourism market. Pacheco said: “India is one of the fastest growing travel markets in the world with (an estimated) 50 million outbound tourists by 2020. There is also a lot of stopover arrivals there. The US government also has a good relationship with India’s government, which (paves the way for) establishing economic business that includes tourism (between the two countries). Plus, India has a mainly English-speaking audience.”
