Brand USA Stirs Up An Appetite for American Cuisine
Brand USA is enticing international travellers to visit the United States through a culinary tourism strategy that includes a newly launched online content hub, guidebook, broadcast sponsorships and partnerships with the U.S. Department of State and the James Beard Foundation.
Based on Brand USA’s proprietary research across 12 key international markets, culinary has risen to one of the top five motivations that travellers use to select an international destination. In fact, culinary is a top motivator in seven of the 12 markets Brand USA conducted proprietary research in 2014, including Canada, Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan and Mexico.
In order to build off the rise of culinary tourism, in July Brand USA in partnership with the Food Network (International) and Travel Channel (International) will broadcast a series of vignettes featuring notable American chefs showcasing regional cuisines from their hometowns and favourite US destinations.
Other components of Brand USA’s culinary strategy include the May launch of Brand USA’s first-ever culinary content hub, “Flavours of the USA,” which is available from Brand USA’s global consumer web site, DiscoverAmerica.com and includes gastronomic features from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five US territories. The site also offers culinary-inspired American travel itineraries, listings of food festivals and events, descriptions of wine and beer trails, and regional recipes by top chefs.
Brand USA also worked with the U.S. Department of State on its Diplomatic Culinary Partnership to produce the “Flavours of the USA” culinary guidebook. Brand USA will distribute 115,000 of the guides at upcoming Independence Day celebrations at US embassies and consulates in China, India, Japan, France, and Germany, and during the year at Brand USA pavilions and in key markets around the globe.
