The travel trade director of Brand USA has been on a self-professed treadmill for the past three years. And as we chat over breakfast, it seems unlikely that he’ll be taking a rest any time soon.
Recent authorisation by the US Senate has now guaranteed Brand USA at least a further five years - just one of several milestones that have heralded the positive impact of the representation company’s work over the past
three years.
It is also a decision which, as Boyle happily explains, has enabled the organisation to look “much more comfortably into the future”.
“We can now look at a much longer vision, and more effective ways of growing existing partnerships and developing new ones,” he explains.
There have also been other notable successes cementing the representation company’s reputation. “When we launched the first TV campaign in the middle of 2012 we knew within a very short period of time that we had influenced ‘intent to travel’ by 14%,” Boyle reveals.
“We had to prove conversion. We had to help the industry develop programmes and work on route development so we didn’t fall flat”
“That told us there was a yawning gap between anything that had happened before and a market message driving interest in the United States.”
Initially, intent to travel was the metric by which Brand USA defined its progress but Boyle knew that wasn’t enough.
“That was just the beginning and we had to prove conversion. We had to help the industry develop its programmes and work on route development so we didn’t fall flat.
“We waited patiently and finally last year’s Oxford Economics report, which was fully audited, was able to corroborate the impact that Brand USA had made globally. The fact that we’d created 1.1 million incremental visitors - a 2.3% increase over the position that we would have been in had nothing been done - was justification that we were on the right tracks.”
In addition, Boyle cites recent Office for National Statistics results that show a 6% growth in UK visitors to the US in the first eight months of 2014, and achieving 4,500 trade members on the USA Discovery Program training site.
“From a standing start, to create that sort of interest is huge and we are expanding that and working to bring more agents to it all the time,” he adds.
Warm reception
Of course statistics are a firm indicator of success, but looking at the picture more holistically, resonance in the industry can be just as significant - a point Boyle is acutely aware of.
Taking on the challenge of launching the UK arm of an organisation that was still in the process of creating its own infrastructure in April 2012 was never going to be an easy task, and Boyle and his team had to immediately begin developing fruitful partnerships, but they were given a warm reception.
“The great thing was the way the market accepted us. They knew we were overwhelmed, but everyone wanted to be a part of it from the smallest destination to the largest operator and biggest airline.”
And in September last year came yet another sign of recognition when Brand USA won Destination of the Year and Training Programme of the Year at the TTG Travel Awards.
“That was an emotional night for us,” reveals Boyle. “We’d been on a treadmill for three and a half years, running, running, running, and wondering if what we were doing was right.
“To me that said: ‘Yes, we’re on the right track, let’s continue, let’s innovate but let’s build on what we’ve achieved and take it forward through fiscal year 2020 at least.’”
It’s evident that Boyle has his sights set firmly on the road ahead: “We know for 2015 that around half of the British population are going to travel abroad and we understand a third are going to spend more than they did last year.
“We are in the right marketplace at the right time - that means even more to us now, given where the operators have positioned their programmes. So there’s been a big increase in recent demand for luxury product and
America is well placed to take advantage of that too.”
He highlights the 45-54 age bracket as being where the “keenness to travel” sits most, and having the most disposable income for 2015.
“That fits with the development of travel for adventure tourism and we’re seeing a real growth there,” he adds.
Transatlantic boost
Airlift is also playing an integral part in the plan. Boyle refers to the “immense” investment and reinvestment of Brand USA’s founding airline partner, British Airways, in transatlantic routes and cites the example of the addition of the Heathrow-Austin route.
“It proves there is a demand for new things and we’ve got to fuel that interest in the market by creating programmes built around BA’s new gateways and with its partners in America so that beyond gateway interest can be satisfied.”
He also highlights Virgin Atlantic’s move away from other destinations back to its transatlantic foundations.
“That partnership with Delta has finally come to fruition and the proof of the pudding is having Virgin flying on Delta’s flagship Heathrow-Atlanta route. That really tells you we’re in it for the long haul.”
“There’s huge competition globally, we know that. We know where our competitors are: the Middle East, the Far East, Europe”
Touching on regional flying, Boyle says Virgin Atlantic’s addition of 8,000 seats to its Manchester-Vegas and Orlando routes next summer, combined with routes from Belfast and Glasgow is “great reason to believe the market can take up transatlantic flying much more locally than it has ever done before”.
Yet despite these positive indicators, Boyle is acutely aware of challengers in the market.
“There’s huge competition globally, we know that. We know where our competitors are: the Middle East, the Far East, Europe.
“The pound versus the dollar is a fluctuating position as well. Currently it is still relatively strong against the dollar but as the pound strengthens against the euro we face increasing competition from short-haul travel again too.
“But we are convinced that all the pieces of the jigsaw are in place. The fall in oil prices will mean reduced cost of travel across the Atlantic and [the cut in APD on children’s flights] will develop huge family sales, not just into Florida but beyond. The west coast is going to benefit hugely from that as people want to take families further afield. California, Hawaii, Texas; they are all big family opportunities as well.”
Boyle has also identified other trends emerging in the market that he hopes to capitalise on.
“Looking ahead, the Deep South is a big development area for the UK as is the Pacific Coast; Portland, Oregon and the neighbouring states. There’s an interest in touring around there that we’ve never seen before, that whole wine culture interest around the Oregon Trail.
“Florida also has a real focus to encourage visitation beyond the Orlando gateway now with Virgin Atlantic flying double daily into Miami; even south-west Florida is capitalising on that with a two-hour drive to Naples, Marco Island and Sarasota - that’s a big target area for development and maybe future airline growth will see a regional south-west airport over there as well.
“So that’s an untapped opportunity for airlines in the UK and there is a huge opportunity there, based on the luxury market and the aspirational market too.”
Plenty then to keep Boyle and his team occupied for at least those next five years - the momentum of that treadmill isn’t likely to be slowing any time soon.
