Skift Take

Outside of the bubble of the travel industry, Brand USA's relatively low profile is indicative of its real challenges to increase tourism.

While the U.S. was in the midst of one of its busiest weekends for domestic travel throughout the year, Brand USA CEO Chris Thompson appeared on national TV to talk about the country’s goal to attract more travelers from abroad.

Brand USA is a relatively new organization, having been formed in 2012, in comparison to the destination marketing organizations of other countries, which have been marketing their cities and coasts for decades.

However, the surprise and lack of knowledge expressed by MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough is probably more common throughout the country than the travel industry itself admits.

“This Brand USA is a private-public partnership. I didn’t realize this, but the federal government is actually in the business of helping pull more people to America,” says Scarborough at the start of the interview.

Although the interview starts as a brief and general description of Brand USA’s goals, panelists touch on some of the real issues facing the marketing organization including what impact the capital’s political problems, U.S. overseas policies, homeland security, and the ebola story have on Brand USA’s goals.

Thompson, on the other hand, comes off more like a human press release than a thoughtful leader with creative solutions on how to increase the economic impact of tourism.

Watch the full 4-minute clip below:

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Tags: brand usa, tourism, tv

Photo credit: Brand USA CEO Chris Thompson talks on MSNBC's Morning Joe. MSNBC

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