The destination marketing organisation for the US, Brand USA, faces the axe in president Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal 2018 budget issued last week, provoking an outcry of alarm from the US travel & tourism industry.

According to the budget document, the revenue of Brand USA would be made available to the US Customs and Border Protection.

Thompson

Contacted for comment, Brand USA’s president & CEO, Chris Thompson, reminded that the matter was still uncertain. “It is important to note that the budget any administration presents is a statement of priorities – not a budget that is presented to Congress to vote on. The administration’s proposal serves as a way to outline the priorities of the administration, but it is ultimately up to the Congress to formalise and vote on a final budget,” he said in an email to TTG Asia.

Brand USA was approved by Congress in 2010 and began operation in 2011. The most recent study by Oxford Economics shows that Brand USA’s marketing initiatives over the past four years have generated 4.3 million incremental visitors, US$13.6 billion in incremental visitor spending, US$29.5 billion in total economic impact (including indirect and induced impacts); nearly US$3.9 billion in federal, state and local taxes; and an average of 50,900 incremental jobs supported each year.

Brand USA returns to the US economy an average of US$27 for each US$1 spent on marketing activities, according to the study.

“Brand USA’s story is a compelling one that clearly demonstrates the significant impact the organisation has had on fuelling the nation’s economy by bringing millions of incremental visitors and billions of incremental dollars in spending to the US,” said Thompson.

An outcry as reported in the US trade media shows an industry caught by surprise – and horror – that Brand USA faces elimination. In one publication, US Travel Association president & CEO Roger Dow was quoted as saying the move would “surrender market share at the worst possible time”.

Already Brand USA has its work cut out for it in promoting the US as a friendly destination amid conflicting messages arising from Trump’s immigration policies.

In an interview in Bangkok on the sidelines of the WTTC Global Summit, before this latest development, Thompson told TTG Asia “what we’re dealing with is a perception issue versus the reality”.

Said Thompson: “The reality is everything that has made the US an aspirational destination all these years – nothing of that has changed. As a matter of fact, the brands that deliver the product – the hotels, retail attractions and experiences – are finding new ways to innovate themselves; the people who deliver those experiences, i.e. the US citizens, open their arms to visitors. Nothing of that has changed.

“As you and I are talking today, nothing legally has changed about how anybody in the world has to acquire visas to visit the US. The only thing that has changed as it relates to entry policy, legally, is the electronics that you can carry onboard, i.e. the laptop travel policy which affects 10 countries in the Middle East. While the number of visitors from those countries is small, the countries are gateways for many visitors, from Asia or otherwise, to the US, and we do know that there has been an impact. But that’s the only thing that has legally changed. Otherwise, a lot of the things have only been contemplated.”

– Read the View from the top with Brand USA’s Chris Thompson, TTG Asia, July 2017

Uzbekistan Airways is offering special airfares up to October for outbound agents in Malaysia and Indonesia in a bid to fill seats on its underutilised Kuala Lumpur-Tashkent sector.

Sherzod Akmalov, general manager for Malaysia, Uzbekistan Airways, said: “The airline’s load on the Tashkent-Kuala Lumpur sector is high with tourists from Uzbekistan and CIS countries visiting Malaysia, but outbound load of Malaysians and Indonesians travelling to Tashkent from Kuala Lumpur is low.

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

“The special airfares offered are aimed at correcting the imbalance as well as creating interest among holidaymakers and those on Muslim pilgrimage,” he added. Uzbekistan Airways recently deployed its Dreamliner on this route on March 31, replacing the Boeing 767 aircraft.

The airline’s efforts will support Uzbekistan’s goal of doubling arrivals from Malaysia, up from 3,000 last year, said Anvar Sharapov, chairman of the State Committee of Uzbekistan for Development of Tourism.

He added that the country wants to attract more Malaysian and Indonesian Muslims to travel for Hajj and Umrah via Uzbekistan, with a stop of several days to visit the historical attractions in the country.

Sharapov last week led a delegation of six tour operators to Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta to conduct product presentations for the Malaysian and Indonesian trade and media.

Ulugbek Yunusov, counselor on Trade and Economic Affairs at the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Kuala Lumpur, said e-visa facilities offered to Malaysians are flexible, with different pricing based on length of stay. It costs US$55 for seven days, US$65 for 15 days and US$75 for 30 days.

Travelport has partnered online travel company Tourism Integration (New Zealand) to launch feijipiao.co.nz, the first OTA dedicated to serving Chinese customers in Australasia.

The partnership allows feijipiao.co.nz access to Travelport’s travel commerce platform providing consumers with easy access to real-time travel content from over 400 airlines, as well as 650,000 hotel properties and car rental, rail and cruise options.

Feijipiao.co.nz is the first OTA in Australasia that can communicate with customers in Chinese and offer multiple cross-border RMB online payment solutions.

Commented Mark Meehan, managing director for Asia-Pacific, Travelport: “Travelport recognises the increasing trend in online travel booking, with the Chinese market leading the way. As an organisation that values clients of North Asian origin, we fully support Fejipiao’s focus and dedication in serving the offshore ethnic Chinese community.”

The Chinese community in New Zealand makes up about 4.3 per cent of the total national population. Phil Goff, the mayor of Auckland, said: “It is great to see a business facilitating travel for the New Zealand Chinese community. Automated comprehensive solutions and an aggregated website for travel purchase by offshore Chinese are good steps forward.”

A similar website serving the Australian market, feijipiao.co.au, will be also be launched in the coming few months.

The Philippine trade is calling on the government to take the lead in counteracting the spate of travel advisories affecting parts of Mindanao and the Visayas, as well as the whole of Mindanao coming under martial law on Wednesday.

Noting that the destinations are “highly affected by cancellations”, Kirschner Travel Manila general manager, AA Yaptinchay, said: “The government should take the lead and not rely on tourism businesses (to remedy the situation). In the long term, the Philippines needs to provide better governance to… eliminate corruption, poverty and insurgency.

“The only thing agencies can do is to provide information on the actual situation (and convey that) reports are isolated to specific areas,” he added.

Rajah Tours’ president Jojo Clemente agreed: “The most we can do is to assuage fears and misconceptions but the (responsibility) falls on the Department of Tourism (DoT) to spend on image building.”

Fearing that the country’s arrivals targets would be missed this year, a travel agent noted that there’s still no word from the DoT about the cost to tourism arising from the martial law in Mindanao or the travel advisories issued last month by mostly European and North American countries, Japan and South Korea.

Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines, which fly extensively to and from Mindanao, are allowing rebookings and hopefully, refunds, said a travel consultant who saw booking cancellations from corporate and leisure travellers.

At yesterday’s Asia Premium Travel Mart roundtable discussion, Be Resorts director of sales Hazel Abayon, said the local government was hands-on in securing the whole area and ensuring that no tourist came to harm during the clash between Abu Sayyaf terrorists with the military last month.

Abayon added that contrary to expectations, tourist numbers are improving for May, June and July.

In areas not directly affected by the travel advisories, El Nido Resorts, for example, is running about 70 per cent occupancy, said director of sales and marketing Joey Bernardino. About 60 per cent of guests are foreigners, mostly from Europe.