Brand USA – the United States' destination-marketing organisation – generated more than 2 million incremental visitors to the U.S. from around the globe over the past two years, according to a recent study by Oxford Economics. Those visitors accounted for $6.5 billion in incremental spending, which injected nearly $15 billion into the U.S. economy. The influx of incremental visitors also supported an average of 50,000 incremental jobs each of the two years.

Brand USA was created through the 2010 Tourism Promotion Act as a public-private enterprise to coordinate international marketing efforts in order to increase tourism to the U.S. and enhance the United States' image as a premier travel destination. It began operations in May 2011. Today, Brand USA is working with a network of nearly 500 private-sector partners.

“As a result of welcoming more international visitors to the United States, the U.S. economy grows, jobs are created and more importantly, there is a more favourable image of the United States around the world," said Christopher L. Thompson, President and CEO of Brand USA.

Oxford Economics, an international economic forecaster based in the UK, looked at nine global markets for the ROI study: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. Brand USA is fully deployed in each of those markets – implementing campaigns for consumer, travel trade and cooperative marketing.

Oxford documented that Brand USA marketing brought 903,400 incremental visitors to the United States during fiscal 2014 (October 2013 – September 2014). Those travellers spent $3.1 billion on travel with U.S. carriers, producing $7.1 billion total sales. Overall, during fiscal 2014, the United States welcomed 75 million international visitors. This translated into a $222-billion boost for the U.S. economy.

Half of Brand USA funding comes from the private sector. The other matching half comes from the $10 ESTA fee charged to visitors who are from countries that do not require visas for travel to the U.S.

Highlights of Brand USA activities and programmes during fiscal 2014, as discussed in the annual report, include:

• Brand USA began production of a giant-screen film that pays tribute to America's national parks. It is being produced with independent filmmaker MacGillivray Freeman Films and will be released early in 2016 at more than 800 IMAX theatres and other giant-screen theatres in nearly 40 countries. The film is a major element in Brand USA's campaign to promote the United States' Great Outdoors. 
• Brand USA launched a new culinary-tourism initiative in July 2014 in partnership with the James Beard Foundation. The program recently expanded to include a new consumer website, “Flavours of the USA,” and a new guidebook in six languages by the same name. 
• Brand USA's partnership network jumped from 339 partners in fiscal 2013 to 475 in the following year. The number of programs for partners surged from 30 to more than 100. This helped to sustain a 94-percent retention rate among partners. 
• Brand USA's international representation now covers 20 markets. 
• Brand USA hosted U.S. pavilions at regional tourism expositions in Brazil, Mexico, China, Italy, Germany, Singapore, Russia and Sweden. 
• Brand USA continued to create MegaFams – large-scale, multi-destination U.S. itineraries for international travel agents. The programme started in 2013 with one MegaFam from the UK and Ireland. In 2014, Brand USA hosted four MegaFams. 
• Brand USA continued to develop and create new content for its USA Discovery Program – an online training platform for international travel agents, which allows the agents to become officially accredited. 
• Thomas Cook and Brand USA launched a pan-European social-media competition, “Discover America: United Stories of America.”

In December 2014, President Obama signed the omnibus-spending bill into law that included provisions for reauthorizing federal funding for Brand USA until 2021. The measure had received bi-partisan support in both houses of Congress. 

Discover this land, like never before at www.VisitTheUSA.com.

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About Brand USA

Brand USA, the destination marketing organisation for the United States, was established by the Travel Promotion Act to spearhead the nation's first global marketing effort to promote the United States as a premier travel destination and to communicate U.S. entry/exit policies and procedures to worldwide travellers. Formed as the Corporation for Travel Promotion in 2010, the public-private entity began operations in May 2011 and does business as Brand USA. With a mission of increasing international visitation to the United States, Brand USA works in close partnership with the travel industry to maximise the economic and social benefits of travel. These benefits include creating jobs essential to the economy and fostering understanding between people and cultures. Brand USA's activities are funded at no cost to U.S. taxpayers through a combination of private-sector investment and matching funds collected by the U.S. Government from international visitors who come to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program. Through its website call-to-action, Brand USA inspires travellers to explore the United States of America's boundless possibilities. For industry or partner information about Brand USA, visit www.TheBrandUSA.com. For information about exceptional and unexpected travel experiences in the United States, please visit Brand USA's consumer website at www.VisitTheUSA.com.

For further press information on Brand USA, contact:

• Sarah Barnett – sbarnett@thebrandusa.co.uk / 020 7845 6378
• Allie Williams – awilliams@thebrandusa.co.uk / 020 7845 6384
• Polly Beech – pbeech@thebrandusa.co.uk / 020 7845 6359
• Bridgett Krider – bkrider@thebrandusa.com / 001 202 888 0069