I was fortunate to attend Visit Orlando’s annual meeting this Friday and learned about social media trends around Europe and Brazil, digital usage of meeting planners, and how the US will be debuting a marketing program to convince the world to start or continue to take their holidays here.
Orlando has seen a trend with the UK that they are starting to take vacations closer to home (not unlike travelers in the US). This just so happens to correspond with the fact that more countries in Europe and Asia have realized that tourism leads to jobs which leads to a better economy. And so countries like France, Turkey, and India are stepping up their marketing efforts.
In order to compete, in 2010, the US Congress established the Corporation for Travel Promotion. So far, they have formed their board (made up of some fairly interesting people, actually), selected a competent executive director, and are almost able to annnounce the marketing director. They will be developing the US brand during the next couple of weeks and will be introducing it at World Travel Mart. And if you are wondering how this is being funded, don’t fear – it doesn’t come out of taxpayers dollars. It comes from visa fees, member fees, donations and a trust.
Boy, I wish I could be a fly on the wall during their brainstorming process!
For more info on the CTP, check out corporationfortravelpromotion.org.
Patti is still learning 
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