WE WANT INDIAN VISITORS TO DISCOVER MORE OF SOUTH USA

Like most international visitors to the United States, Indian travellers do not spend enough time in southern USA which is packed with various hidden gems and our mission is to get them to spend at least one more day in South USA, Liz Bittner, President and CEO, Travel South USA tells India Outbound. Bittner, who has been leading Travel South USA for over two decades, adds that as Indian visitors are already the fourth-biggest spenders in the region, Travel South USA will enhance its engagement with the Indian market.

- Varsha Singh

Q How important is India for Travel South USA?

As the appetite for focussing on the real America, you know, the authentic American experiences continues to be told in the media, on social media, and through just general word of mouth with friends and relatives who live in the US, I think there is absolutely an appetite for the American South to be on the radar of leisure travellers from India coming to the US. Of course, we have a great deal of work to do and some of it is under my control. So, we can do training programmes and also consumer outreach to mid-level and high net worth people who are predisposition to come to the US through tour operators. Some of it, like more airlift to American South is not under our control, but as Air India and IndiGo have ordered many airplanes, so it is all coming. But it is not going to happen overnight, so our strategy tends to be a very pragmatic look. We don't like to go in and come out of a market, you know, like whiplashing, we are in for the long haul, so we will be taking it as a nice slow path into a market that is important.

Of 2.2 million Indians visiting the US in 2024, how many visited American South?