Excluding neighbours Canada and Mexico, India ranks fourth among all overseas tourism markets for the US, with 1,256,915 arrivals between January and December 2022.
The latest figures released at the end of February revealed that 203,540 Indians travelled to the United States showing (January-February 2023), strong growth in visitor arrivals.
No wonder the US tourism board is ramping up marketing initiatives to attract more Indians. In a conversation with Storyboard18, Jackie Ennis, vice president of Global Markets at Brand USA, talks about plans for India that doesn’t rule out Indian content creators or Bollywood figures. Brand USA is the tourism marketing association of the United States.
Edited excerpts:
How important is India as a market for the US? Are visitors travelling for business and education only or are there tourists too?
India is an incredibly important market for us, not just because of the numbers we’ve seen post-pandemic, but also the potential for growth that we anticipate. India seems to be transforming itself, and the types of programs and products that Indians are looking for today are very different from what they were in 2017.
In 2022, India was the fourth-largest source of international visitors, excluding Canada and Mexico, with 1.256 million visitors. This number was only about 15 percent down from our 2019 numbers, which were the highest we had seen. The spend from Indian visitors is also incredibly strong, making them an important market for us.
The different market segments for us are intrinsically entwined. VFR (visiting friends and relatives) is important because when Indians come to visit friends and family, it’s a great excuse to come to the United States.
However, they don’t stay with them the whole time, as they want to explore other parts of the state or region they’re visiting. Education is also important, as students who come to study in the US go all over the country, creating ambassadors for the country. And now, increasingly, pleasure visitors are combining business trips with days of leisure. We try very hard to appeal to all these different segments and marry our activities to their interests.
You mentioned Indians spending more in recent times. Can you elaborate?
In 2019, we had almost 1.47 million Indian visitors to the United States, with a spend of $16.9 billion, which was a significant amount. Visitation was high, but spending was even higher, in terms of ranking. However, in 2021, visitation dropped to 4,33,000, but the spending was almost $9 billion. This means that the Indian travelers who came in 2021 spent a lot more money compared to previous years. While there may have been some inflation, the spend is still critical for us.
One obvious roadblock for US travel are visas. How are you looking at tackling that?
We received some great news from both the Mumbai Consul General and the Delhi Consul General. Approximately, three million Indians with valid 10-year visas can travel to the US, making them an important segment. Although the situation in India is not ideal, we heard that the US government has acknowledged the severity of the situation and is taking steps to address it. Hundreds of thousands of new appointments are being added on a weekly basis, and the wait time in Delhi has decreased from two to three years to eight months. While it’s not perfect, it’s a significant improvement. We anticipate that the wait time will continue to decrease throughout 2023. In addition, they announced that they’ll be issuing over one million visas, which should be a record number.
Help us understand your perspective on content as a marketing tool. Are you working with any Indian creators?
We had the wonderful opportunity to host Ajeet Bajaj, who climbed the seven largest summits in the world with his daughter. Last year, he climbed Mount Denali with her, and we were able to film that as a significant piece of content. Ajeet is also a notable explorer and adventurer throughout the United States, and we have a lot of content featuring him that we hope to share with our Indian travelers.
Regarding specific Indian content, we tried to cast an Indian creator for one of our series on our streaming channel, Go USA TV, which features all dedicated US channels. Unfortunately, we had visa issues and the project had to be put on hold, which is disappointing. However, we are determined to find a way to collaborate with Indian creators very soon.
Do you plan to involve influencers in your marketing mix?
As part of our efforts to promote travel to the United States, we have a paid influencer program. We have a dedicated team of consumer marketing and social media experts in the US who manage this program. We work with agencies to engage influencers from all over the world, and over the past year, we have facilitated hundreds of influencer visits to the US.
Our goal is to highlight the state of recovery in the country and to reassure travellers that the US is open, safe, and ready to welcome visitors. This program is an important part of our marketing mix, and as we continue to navigate the post-pandemic recovery in 2023 and beyond, we plan to host more influencers from our global markets.
What are the changes that you have introduced in your marketing strategies post-pandemic?
Previously, our consumer marketing campaigns often had a call to action that directed people to our own platform, visittheusa.com or visit gousa.in. However, post- pandemic, we shifted our call to action to our trade partners in market. This was to not just inspire potential visitors, then take them to a content site, but also to take them directly to a booking site, creating an impetus for travel and package bookings. This was a significant pivot from our previous approach, and we’ve become more resolute in identifying key trade partners in each market who can enhance our overall capabilities for promoting the entire United States. With the diverse range of experiences available across the country, from Alaska to Arizona, Puerto Rico to Hawaii, we aim to identify the best partners and use our ability to collaborate with them to access consumers in a much more targeted way. This approach has been refined post pandemic, resulting in a more effective strategy.
A lot of tourism boards across the world are using Bollywood faces as their ambassadors to grab the attention of the Indian travellers. Do you have any such plans?
I would be happy to. I agree that the power of images is very strong. Traditionally, Brand USA has not done that, but we are currently exploring some possibilities in other markets. However, I cannot confirm anything at this point. But it would definitely be an interesting avenue to pursue.
Now that you are aggressively promoting tourism, has there been any increase in your marketing budget?
Brand USA is funded through the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) funds, which are collected from electronic visa applications. During the pandemic, we did not receive any ESTA funds due to the lack of international arrivals. To address this, we had to rely on public-private partnerships to unlock the funds, as our partners did not have any money. As part of the stimulus package, we were granted $250 million to spend on marketing the United States. This boost in budget was provided in 2022 to stimulate international visitation to our markets.