New Travel and Tourism Board Targets Five Markets

September 10, 2003

New Travel and Tourism Board Targets Five Markets
In its first meeting with Secretary of Commerce Don Evans on Monday, the new U.S. Travel and Tourism Promotion Advisory Board worked on strategies to promote inbound tourism in five target markets: Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.

According to TWCrossroads.com, the board intends to leverage the $50 million allotted by the federal government into $150 million through cooperative marketing with international tour operators and domestic destination marketing organizations. The board hopes to launch the campaign in January.

The board created three committees to focus on measuring the campaign’s effectiveness. James Rasulo, president of NTA member Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, is the chair of the board. Other leaders of NTA member companies and organizations who serve on the board are:

Manual Cortez, president & CEO, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority
J.W. Marriott Jr., chairman and CEO, Marriott International
Henry Silverman, president & CEO, Cendant Corporation
Manny Stamatakis, board member, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau
Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO, Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Glenn Tilton, CEO, United Airlines, preferred NTA airline provider
Jeremy Jacobs, chairman, Delaware North Companies, of which Sequia National Park and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex are members
Robert Taubman, chairman and CEO, The Taubman Company, which owns NTA members Woodfield Shopping Center, International Plaza, and Great Lakes Crossing

The board’s next meeting will be Oct. 13.