Jay Gray – Vice President, Global Partnership Development – Brand USA - met with ITB Berlin News during ITB Asia, and gave us a one-on-one update about the success of his organization. 
 
For the first time, a Brand USA Press conference was held at ITB Asia. Speakers included:

• Mr. Jay Gray, Brand USA, Vice President of Global Partnership (right)
• Ms. Reene Ho-Phang, Brand USA, Managing Director of Hong Kong & Taiwan
• Ms. Makiko Matsuda Healy, NYC & Company, Vice President of Tourism Development
• Mr. Peter Phang, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, Managing Director of Greater China
• Ms. Dawnielle Tehama, Grand Canyon West, Marketing Director
• Ms. Tracy Vaughan, Visit Florida, Director of International Sales

Following the Press Conference, we spoke with Jay Gray about the present and future of Brand USA in Asia.
 
Since 2011, you have been working at Brand USA on building a global representation network and establishing partnerships with international stakeholders to attract increased private sector funding and to promote the United States as a premier global tourism destination. What results have you had to date?
 
In areas where we have been running brand campaigns that we have run long enough to start to get metrics, we have seen a twelve to fourteen percent increase in ‘intent to travel' from pre- to post-campaign. We have developed a number of new partnerships.

One worth mentioning is BA in the UK, or Thomas Cook – also in Europe, and we have campaigns running with United in Asia. A great thing about these partnerships is that we can obtain specific metrics every time we run a campaign, whether it be TV marketing or a ‘fam' tour; we can measure the conversions, and the results have been extremely positive.
 
How is Brand USA changing the way the world sees the United States?
 
Many people may have thought that if they had gone to the three, four or five iconic destinations, that they'd ‘done' the US. What we are focusing on is ‘beyond the gateway' or ‘gateway plus one'.

Read the full story at the exclusive 4Hoteliers.com ITB News Site