Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the United States, recently presented to its board of directors the results of the return on investment (ROI) study conducted by Oxford Economics. Since FY2013, Brand USA’s efforts are directly responsible for increasing international visitation by an incremental 5.4 million travelers who spent $17.7 billion, generating a total economic impact of $38.4 billion, and supported an average of 51,580 incremental jobs per year. Brand USA also provided initial results on the impact of its first film for IMAX and giant screen theaters, “National Parks Adventure.”
The new economic impact study shows that in Fiscal Year 2017 (FY2017), Brand USA’s marketing campaigns generated 1.16 million incremental international visitors to the United States, with a total economic impact of $8.5 billion, and supporting 54,212 incremental jobs. The results equate to a marketing ROI of 29:1 based on Brand USA’s marketing expenses of $140 million and incremental international visitor spend of $4.1 billion.
Also presented to the board of directors was preliminary field research on the impact of “National Parks Adventure.” Conservative results show individuals who have viewed the film now plan to visit the USA in the next 12 months: 17 percent in Canada, 9 percent in Mexico, 4 percent in Asia, and 1 percent in Europe.
“Travel and tourism is a significant contributor to the U.S. economy, and increasing international visitors to the United States provides new opportunities for growth within the industry. As tourism increases so does the need to service our guests, which drives job creation in all service sectors, including retail, restaurants, and transportation,” said Christopher L. Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA.
