One of the world’s biggest travel conferences is underway in the City of Angels, and Open Jaw is on the scene.
The U.S. Travel Association’s annual IPW conference is taking place in downtown Los Angeles this week, with some 1,700 global travel buyers and media representatives on hand, along with 5,700 travel professionals from nearly 70 countries. That includes a large contingent of Canadian journalists and public relations professionals, along with representatives from Air Canada, WestJet, Air Miles and more.
Delegates were treated to a morning reception at the stunning Getty Museum in the Santa Monica Mountains in West Los Angeles on 04May. Later that night, legendary singer Diana Ross performed at the Los Angeles Coliseum for the official opening party.
Earlier in the evening, Discover America Canada put on a ritzy cocktail party on the 69th floor of the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown L.A., an event sponsored by Air Canada.
“We’re big supporters of U.S. travel,” Audrey Tanguay-Beaudette, Manager, Global Sales & Tourism Partnerships for Air Canada, told Open Jaw. “We’ve had a long love story with the U.S. In fact, the first Air Canada flight was from Vancouver to Seattle in 1937.
“We keep growing our footprint in the U.S.,” she said. “We’ve recently added flights from Montreal to Austin and St. Louis, and from Toronto to Charleston.”
“We’re building that love every day,” Tanguay-Beaudette said later in remarks to at the Discover America Canada reception. “We want you to think about Air Canada when you think about the U.S.”
“IPW is an amazing experience for all of us,” said Susan Webb, President of Discover America Canada.
Casey Canevari, Senior Manager, Global Trade Development for Brand USA, told Open Jaw that total overnight arrivals to the U.S. from Canada increased to 20.5 million in 2023, up 43% from the year before. That’s just one per cent below 2019, pre-pandemic visitation levels.
Overnight arrivals are expected to increase 5% annually in 2024 and 2025, he said.
Citing information from ForwardKeys, Canevari said Canadians are booking on average 76 days out, and that 38% use direct distribution channels to book their travel.
The most popular states for Canadians are New York (20%), Florida (19%), California (13%), Washington state (8%) and Nevada (7%), and the average trip stay lasts 11.5 days.
Chris Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA, said the USA received 79.4 million visitors in 2019. Last year, that figure was 66.5 million.
Thompson said the lack of traffic from Asia is a factor in the USA’s overall visitation numbers, as it is for Canada and other western countries.
Thompson said the USA expects to surpass 2019 visitor levels by next year.
Thompson also noted that Brand USA’s Discover America program for travel advisors has been retooled, and that the agency is offering mega-fams to educate agents and showcase areas beyond major gateways. Brand USA recently took 50 Canadian agents on six trips to various US destinations, he said.
Thompson called the United States “the most diverse country in the world” and “the most aspirational destination in the world.” He also said the three letters USA are “the most powerful brand in the world.”
Looking ahead, he pointed out that Washington D.C. will host World Pride next year, and that U.S. cities will host critical FIFA World Cup games in 2026, including the finals in New York City. The U.S. also will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its independence in 2026, and Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympic Games in 2028.
