Brand USA Talks Travel

Join us for a close-up of Ireland’s travel industry landscape. Often lumped in with England, Irish travelers constitute a unique market of their own - one with a strong connection to the U.S.A. We touch on how U.S. Destinations can obtain coverage from the Irish press, the enduring power of food in storytelling, and the dangers of being on overbooked press trips. Nicola Brady is an award-winning travel writer whose work appears regularly in the Irish Independent, Evening Standard, The Independent UK, Condé Nast Traveler and others.

We welcome back Scott Balyo, Executive Director of CRUSA, to discuss trends he heard from buyers and suppliers. Plus, learn how CRUSA funded this debut event, its planning timetable, and the challenges of covering such a large territory.

In this episode, we’re talking experiential travel. Learn how diversity, discovery and discernment are key to serving LGBTQ+ and Luxury travelers and hear about coming trends. Uwern Jong is co-founder and editor-in-chief of "Out-There" magazine.

Anyone who loves the Blues, or wants to create a specific marketing proposition about their destination, will enjoy hearing these stories from Bubba O'Keefe, Executive Director of Visit Clarksdale in Mississippi. Renowned as the home of the crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil, Clarksdale is 120 minutes from Memphis and boasts none of the glamour of big cities; even so, it attracts tourists from all over the world.

Time to soak up the wisdom! Don shares what he's learned throughout his 35+ year career in the travel industry, including the value of MICE, how travel conferences can improve, DEI, and his organization's upcoming Advocacy Summit. Don Welsh is President/CEO of Destinations International.

To conclude our coverage of Travel Week from Frankfurt, Germany, we speak with John Percy, President/CEO of Niagara USA. John offers words of encouragement to smaller destinations about international tourism, and presents his first-timer impressions of Travel Week.

We hear about the Buyer-Supplier meetings, the Media Forum, CEO Summit, the relationship between content creation and distribution, and the future of live and virtual industry meetings.

Live from Frankfurt, Germany, we explore hosted trips for journalists, working with local PR representatives, and the secret conversations that travel journalists have when destinations aren't around. Jacqui Agate is a freelance travel journalist whose work appears in The Eye, The Times, National Geographic, Wanderlust, and more.

From Frankfurt, Germany, we discuss fostering inclusivity in tourism, attracting families to visit the U.S., and the synergy between VRBO and Expedia, plus search volume. Jennifer Andre is Vice President of Business Development at Expedia Group.

We discuss green travel technology, sustainable travel, and travel mobility, plus the upcoming Travel Mobility Conference. Tori Barnes is Executive Vice President, Public Affairs and Policy at U.S. Travel Association.