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VISIT USA NOW! ISSUE 103 | APRIL 2012 Brand USA finds its diamond Brand USA has appointed London-


based PR and travel trade representation agency Black Diamond as its UK and Ireland office. Brand USA, which is charged with


marketing the USA as an international tourism destination, is a creation of the Travel Promotion Act which was passed in March 2010. Black Diamond will help position the


USA as a premier travel destination to grow the nearly four million travellers from the UK and Ireland who visited the USA last year. “We are confident that Black Diamond’s combined expertise in the travel industry and marketing will help us reach and welcome even more visitors from the UK and Ireland in the


years to come,” said James Evans, Brand USA’s President and CEO. Brand USA is a public-private


partnership established by the United States Congress under the Travel Promotion Act and is partially funded by the Electronic System for Travel


Authorization (ESTA). Black Diamond’s existing clients


include Visit California, Pebble Beach Company, San Francisco Travel Association and Aspen Snowmass. The Visit USA Association is strongly supportive of Black Diamond’s appointment, says its its chairperson Kate Burgess-Craddy. “We’re delighted that Brand USA has chosen its UK representative and we are looking forward to working with Gerry Boyle and his team at Black Diamond. “We hope to develop a really close


working relationship that will pay dividends for our members and the travelling public, keeping the USA front of mind as the best holiday destination in the world,” added Burgess-Craddy.


North Carolina


has film hunger North Carolina, home to the second largest filming studio in the US, is starring on UK cinema screens as the scenic backdrop in The Hunger Games. The film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ popular dystopian novel was shot on locations and sound stages in the western half of the state. Visitors looking to explore locations in the movie can head to DuPont State Recreational Forest, the setting for the arena where leads Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are asked to fight to the death, and Coleman Boundary in Pisgah National Forest, where pre-games scenes were shot.


Charlotte, North Carolina’s


largest city, and


Henry River Mill


Village also


feature in the film.


www.uk.visitnc.com 18 April 2012 • www.sellinglonghaul.com


New York’s a TRYP with Wyndham Special features include 23 over-sized


The Wyndham Hotel Group has opened its first TRYP by Wyndham property in the US. The 173-room TRYP New York


City Times Square is located in the heart of Manhattan at 345 West, 35th Street, close to top attractions like world-class shopping and dining, Times Square, the Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden.


family rooms that can accommodate six to eight guests, with bunk beds for children and a large living room area with sleeper sofa, two flat-screen televisions and wet bar. Plaza Central also houses The Gastro Bar at 35th which, inspired by international flavours, offers a fresh twist on tapas. www.wyndhamworldwide.com


Funway attractions run deeper


including accommodation at the three- star Carmel Mission Inn, Monterey, including flights with United Airlines, (based on travel in April). New at SeaWorld Orlando, the


new TurtleTrek attraction (pictured) provides visitors with another nose- to-nose animal encounter. After getting up close to the sea


Funway Holidays is featuring two


new under-the-sea attractions in California and Orlando. Spotted comb jellies, elegant jellies, blubber jellies, Mediterranean jellies, crystal jellies and hairy jellies are the stars of a new exhibit, ‘The Jellies Experience’, at Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Holiday prices start at £795pp,


turtles and manatees, visitors are immersed in a sea turtle’s ‘epic journey’ via the world’s first 3-D, 360-degree movie. Prices from £689pp, including accommodation at the three-star Coco Key Hotel & Water Resort and flights with United Airlines, for travel on April 26. TurtleTrek is also included in the


two-park SeaWorld and Aquatica ticket, priced from £69 for adults and £59 for children (aged three to nine), www.funway4agents.co.uk


What should we make of Visit


England’s current advertising campaign designed to encourage more holidays at home this year? Is it a clever tug at our patriotic


heartstrings, reminding us of the national treasures we have in our very own backyard at a time when the eyes of the world will be on us? Or is it a bare-faced – and rather


heavy-handed – attempt by the Government to make our 2012 holiday decisions for us? A case of an iron fist in a lavender-scented lace glove, perhaps? An ABTA poll result – that showed


the majority of Brits don’t support the Government’s agenda – hardly came as a surprise. In these challenging times deciding where to take a holiday is one of the few pleasures – and choices – left to most hard-working people. What can’t be disputed is that, while


there is much for us in the UK to be proud of this year, the Visit England campaign further undermines an industry which annually contributes billions to the Treasury’s coffers. Whether through the jobs we create


– Virgin Holidays will have recruited more than 200 new roles by the time our retail expansion is complete – or the revenue generated by the sky-high taxes levied on anyone stepping onto a plane, UK Plc needs the overseas holidays industry – and badly. Which is, of course, exactly why the Government should be more balanced when it comes to supporting the travel sector. Surely, during what will be a very ‘international summer’, we should be encouraging people to go out and embrace the world, exploring the destinations they’ll hear so much about and broadening their horizons in the process, rather than asking the rather simplistic question: “Why would you want to go abroad?” After all, being proud to be British but


enjoying overseas travel needn’t be mutually exclusive.


Phil Bloomfield Head of PR Virgin Holidays


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