Brand USA Fights for Its Future as U.S. Inbound Travel Weakens Under Trump
Photo Credit: Members of the tourism community on a Brand USA familiarization trip to Chicago. Choose Chicago / Choose Chicago
Skift Take
Brand USA is confident about securing future funding due to bipartisan support for the program. The reality, however, is that the program faces an administration not focused on welcoming visitors.
You might think with the amount of pop culture, global headlines, and power and influence America exports to the rest of the world, it wouldn't need a marketing department. But Brand USA, the public-private partnership that serves as the nation's destination marketing arm, is currently fighting to prove the opposite.
Forty-seven senators from both parties signed a letter last week calling for the reauthorization of funding for the program. For every $14 spent on the U.S.'s visa waiver program known as ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) by an international traveler, $10 goes to Brand USA’s efforts, with a maximum payout of $100 million per year, which is matched by the private sector. The program will lose that funding mechanism at the end of 2020’s fiscal year if Congress doesn’t act.
The public-private partnership enjoys relatively bipartisan support by the standards of 2019. That’s historically been the case too. It was passed overwhelmingly in both house
