International marketing gets big boost

Last month, Brand USA was launched, creating a public/private partnership to market tourism in the United States to foreign visitors. While other countries have prioritized tourism marketing efforts, astonishingly, this is the first time the U.S. has marketed to international visitors. While this is a national endeavor, it means a lot for smaller communities such as the Mat-Su Valley.

Brand USA encompasses a multi-million-dollar campaign through television, print, digital (discoveramerica.com) and other avenues. It was founded after the passage of the Travel Promotion Act, which was signed into law in 2009 with remarkable bipartisan support. The initiative is funded wholly through the private sector and a $10 fee on foreign travelers who don’t pay for a visa to enter the U.S. No tax dollars are used.

What does it mean for us? It adds another level of marketing to audiences that are increasingly coming to Alaska, which is a very good thing. According to the 2011 Alaska Visitor Statistics Program report, the state welcomed 154,000 international visitors (not including Canadians) in 2011. A bulk of those came from German-speaking Europe, while the markets of Australia and Asia were also both well represented.

The report uses statistics to show why the international traveler is so important to the Alaska tourism industry. In 2011, international visitors stayed on average one night longer than domestic visitors. German visitors spent an average of 15.2 nights in Alaska. That’s important when you start to consider the amount of bed tax revenues these extra nights generated for local communities throughout Alaska, the Mat-Su Valley included. The average spending was $1,013 per person (not including transportation to get to Alaska), which is 8 percent more than the average of domestic visitors ($941 per person). The increased length of stay, and the increased level of spending by these tourists, makes it important to target these international visitors.

As our state voice strengthens, so does the local — or Mat-Su — voice. The Alaska Travel Industry Association, through cooperation with the Alaska Department of Commerce and Community Development, has several international programs in these markets, targeting tour operators who offer Alaska packages, media and individual travelers. The Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau partners with ATIA on these missions, giving us a seat at the table for a fraction of the cost.

Last September, for example, the Mat-Su CVB traveled to Japan to meet with more than 200 tour operators in four cities. The total cost of our international marketing efforts represents about 1 percent of the overall budget, but the return is much higher. Without the strong economic partnership with ATIA, however, it wouldn’t have been possible financially.

To see the new campaign in motion, thanks to the music of Rosanne Cash, visit youtube.com/discoveramerica.

Casey Ressler (casey@alaskavisit.com) is the marketing and communication manager at the Mat-Su CVB.