Latest stats spell out the UK market recovery, with the first eight months of 2023 seeing 2.5 million Brits cross the Atlantic, 80% of 2019’s total of 3.1 million.
Staci Mellman, Brand USA’s senior vice-president of integrated marketing, has no doubt where this is heading.
“For 2024, we’re really optimistic about hitting 2019 levels,” she said, also predicting 2023 will remain 15% to 20% below pre-pandemic figures while 2025 will exceed them.
The key destinations for UK visitors are all on track for recovery; California is running at 92% of 2019 levels, while Florida is “not quite back” to 2019’s 1.3 million.
New York “surged back” in 2022, when 863,000 Britons visited, but still fell short of 2019’s 1.27 million. “We expect that to be over one million in 2023,” Mellman said.
As airlines have restored transatlantic routes, the US as a whole has benefitted, she added. “We’re projecting 2024 on a par because airlines have been growing capacity.”
Mellman named the new British Airways Cincinnati service, its 27th US route, and Delta’s Edinburgh-Atlanta launch earlier this year as proof of increased demand. “We are just about on a par with pre-pandemic; seat capacity is 97% of 2019.”
Brand USA will increase its total UK marketing spend in 2024. In 2022, this reached $22 million, half of which was on digital campaigns to restart the market. Mellman would not detail future UK spend but Brand USA said 2023’s budget was “comparable” with 2022.
Next January, Brand USA’s UK consumer marketing evolves from the current “This Is Where It’s At” slogan to “Experience It All”.
“The message is that it’s not just about the place but how you feel when you’re there; the emotional connection you have,” Mellman said.
Holidays ’essential’, not luxuries
Sport is a key plank of the marketing effort. A partnership with NFL in the UK and Ireland is now underway and sees stadiums decked in branding. Further ahead, a sports tourism boom is anticipated for the Fifa World Cup in 2026 and the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Mellman has high hopes for the soccer event, with games in 11 cities.
“2026 will be a huge year for us," Mellman continued. "It’s also the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US. That summer will be the hottest time to be here. We’re going to do a lot more education around some of the host cities like Dallas, Atlanta and Kansas.
"It’s also a great opportunity for road trips, it’s the 100th anniversary of Route 66. Whether people have tickets for the games or not they can be part of the events.”
Mellman believes canny agents will boost their income by tailor-making itineraries.
All these events fit neatly with one of Brand USA’s key objectives for the UK market – dispersing visitors to new destinations. Brand USA’s 2024 Business Plan spells out the need to challenge a perception that travellers have "been there before".
The plan adds that research shows UK travellers perceive “that the USA has become an expensive vacation destination”, but neither this nor the increased cost of living for Brits leads Mellman to believe next year will see a fallback in demand.
“I think the Brits are resilient; coming out of the pandemic the holiday is regarded as an essential, not a luxury. They may switch overall spend or move from five star to three, but people are continuing to book for 2024.”
However, she acknowledged there are some issues facing UK consumers as we go into winter: “We know inflation is a big issue and economically there are challenges but the US remains the number one aspirational destination for many UK travellers.
"We’re seeing that in the numbers and in aircraft route development. I don’t believe airlines would do that unless they thought consumers wanted to travel.”
Faith in agents
The plan also puts its faith in agents, with Mellman adding: “UK travellers desire package protection, expert advice, flexible booking and payment options and value for money, making the UK travel trade a very important part of their planning and booking process.”
To show this continued faith, Brand USA has another trade programme under preparation for next year. It will be repeating its agent MegaFams that this year saw 60 agents tour six regions.
In response to agents’ requests, the USA Discovery online training programme will be offered in mobile format from 2024.
All in all, both consumers and agents will be hearing a lot more from Brand USA in 2024.
