INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
Brand USA | May 23, 2023
Brand USA, the nation’s destination marketing organization, opened IPW 2023 with an immersive press conference showcasing the USA as an unrivalled travel destination, as well as the reveal of the organization’s latest consumer marketing campaign, provided international travel forecast, and consumer sentiment insights. IPW is the leading trade show for inbound travel to the United States, bringing more than 5,000 industry professionals from more than 60 countries to San Antonio, Texas for the first time. Brand USA is the premier sponsor of the annual event produced by the U.S. Travel Association and taking place for the first time in San Antonio, Texas.
The press conference featured iconic and lesser-known destinations and attractions, from the best places to taste local cuisine to stepping into the song lyrics or movie locations that first inspired a visit, being pampered in the lap of luxury, or experiencing the USA through the eyes of a sports enthusiast.
“There’s no other destination like the United States,” said Brand USA President and CEO, Chris Thompson to over 200 international journalists. “What sets the USA apart is the diversity of our geography, the diversity of our experiences, the diversity of our people, and our one-of-a-kind pop culture.”
Mr. Thompson described how USA pop culture is often the way people around the world first get to know the United States, asking: “How did you first come to know the United States? Were you on the road with Jack Kerouac, walking the line with Johnny Cash, or having breakfast with Audrey Hepburn at Tiffany’s? Regardless, I bet you were left with a dream, an idea, and an intangible excitement, and you knew you just had to experience it all for yourself.”
Thompson, who is bullish on inbound travel to the USA, gave examples of how pent-up demand continues to drive economic recovery in communities throughout the country as more and more people are now booking travel and living out their dreams. During the press conference Thompson highlighted how two recent barriers to travel have been alleviated: that overall airlines expect a near 100 percent return of connectivity by the end of the year, and that effective May 12, international travelers are no longer required to have a COVID-19 vaccination to enter the United States.
The worldwide travel restart has created a highly competitive global market for the lucrative international visitor. To move consumers more quickly from aspiration to action, Brand USA recently launched a marketing campaign across 10 key markets. The campaign showcases how the USA delivers on the consumer promise that whoever you want to be and whatever experience you long for, the United States is where you can find it. Thompson shared two of the latest campaign assets which speak to travelers seeking adventure or family fun.
About Brand USA
Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the United States, was established by the Travel Promotion Act as the nation’s first public-private partnership to promote the United States as a premier travel destination and to communicate U.S. travel policies and procedures to worldwide travelers. The organization’s mission is to increase international visitation to the United States in order to fuel the U.S. economy and enhance the image of the United States worldwide. Formed as the Corporation for Travel Promotion in 2010, the public-private entity began operations in May 2011 and does business as Brand USA. According to studies by Oxford Economics, over the past 10 years Brand USA's marketing initiatives have helped welcome 8 million incremental visitors to the United States, benefiting the U.S. economy with more than $58 billion in total economic impact and supporting, on average, more than 37,000 incremental jobs a year.
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FEATURES AND ADVICE
prnewswire | April 25, 2023
Notabene has published its second comprehensive State of Crypto Travel Rule Compliance Report, which provides insightful results from their 2023 global Travel Rule compliance survey. This report follows the successful inaugural report, which provided the industry's first-ever comprehensive analysis of Travel Rule compliance.
"This year's report highlights that Travel Rule compliance is becoming increasingly global, with nearly a quarter (23%) of the surveyed companies needing to comply with Travel Rule requirements in more than one jurisdiction. These findings suggest that the Travel Rule is becoming more global in nature, underscoring the need for a solution to the common cross-border challenges posed by the Travel Rule," says CEO Pelle Braendgaard.
The State of Travel Rule report includes survey results from financial institutions and crypto companies worldwide on how prepared they are for upcoming regulatory deadlines. Sixty-nine companies completed the survey, representing broad global coverage.
The report includes real-world feedback on differences in Travel Rule adoption across jurisdictions, approaches to implementation, components of compliance, and summarizes adoption pitfalls. Key findings show that 84% of companies are already complying or plan to by the end of 2023, and 75% of respondents impose some restrictions on transactions with self-hosted wallets. The report also found that of those who comply, 37.5% perform the travel rule post-transaction, not fulfilling today's FATF requirements.
"Our global and diverse respondents have reinforced the global nature and the various levels of Travel Rule compliance." says Lana Schwartzman, Head of Regulatory and Compliance at Notabene. "VASPs are asking for a unified and interoperable global approach for reaching their counterparties and transmitting Travel Rule messages. As a result, regulators must work together with industry to develop a unified approach to Travel Rule compliance that addresses the needs of the entire industry. We are already seeing this in the EU and UK and hope other regions will follow."
This year's report includes a comprehensive illustration of the current global state of Travel Rule adoption, showcasing key information regarding jurisdictional enforcement, including information on the enforcement status of each jurisdiction, as well as the threshold amount and self-hosted wallet obligations. This information is crucial for businesses seeking to comply with the Travel Rule.
About Notabene
Notabene is crypto's only pre-transaction decision making platform. We enable customers to identify and stop high-risk activity before it occurs.
Notabene's SafeTransact platform helps financial institutions and crypto businesses unlock their full potential in the digital economy. With a focus on security, privacy, and end-user experience, Notabene customers can use our multi-source data and software to automate real-time decision-making, perform counterparty sanctions screening, identify self-hosted wallets, and complete the smooth roll out of Travel Rule compliance, all in line with global and local regulations.
Notabene is SOC-2 security certified since 2021. Over 85 companies leverage our software to manage real-time regulatory and counterparty risk in virtual asset transactions, including Copper, Luno, Crypto.com and Bitstamp. Headquartered in New York, Notabene is a global company with presence in Switzerland, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
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BUSINESS TRAVEL
prweb | May 31, 2023
The San Francisco Travel Association has launched its largest-ever global marketing and advertising campaign, “Always San Francisco,” to promote tourism to the city. The multi-million-dollar campaign targets leisure travelers and meeting planners in major domestic markets and key international markets. It is the destination marketing organization’s first campaign to include television advertising.
Celebrating the city’s bold, inviting, and playful ethos, the “Always San Francisco” campaign features iconic locations visitors already connect to San Francisco—the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Lombard Street—and ones that showcase the city’s vibrant neighborhoods and the diversity of visitor experiences. The campaign also includes cameos by San Franciscans, such as Lady Camden of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame, artist Sirron Norris, dancers from the acclaimed AXIS Dance Company, musicians Mae Powell and Michael O’Konis, Chinatown lion dancers, and chefs from Michelin-starred Angler, to represent the talent and inclusivity the city champions.
“This is the largest campaign San Francisco Travel has ever launched due to the incredible support from the City and County of San Francisco, Visit California, and other stakeholders,” said San Francisco Travel President and CEO Joe D’Alessandro. “Tourism is vital to the city’s economic recovery, and ‘Always San Francisco’ is designed to drive increased visitation by showing the authentic San Francisco experience people love and dream about.”
San Francisco Travel Chief Marketing Officer Lynn Bruni-Perkins said, “The campaign evokes the emotional joy visitors find here. San Francisco will always be San Francisco. It is ever-changing, but the feeling of San Francisco remains constant. Its epic beauty, iconic landmarks, diverse people, and larger-than-life moments stay with you forever.”
To match the powerful and inspiring imagery, San Francisco Travel collaborated with local and San Francisco-connected musicians to reimagine Judy Garland’s beloved rendition of the classic “San Francisco” song for its campaign video.
“We chose a soundtrack that matched the campaign’s energy and uplifting message and tapped into San Francisco’s legendary local music scene to reimagine the song,” said Bruni-Perkins. “The result is a beautiful artistic collaboration true to San Francisco’s spirit.”
Campaign assets will appear in high-impact media, such as linear TV (traditional TV), connected TV (CTV), and digital out-of-home (DOOH) in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Houston.
The campaign will also have a robust digital media layer through programmatic advertising, video ads, paid social media, OTA partnerships, and earned media. A consumer sweepstakes contest in the U.S. featuring five San Francisco experiences, including an “ultimate” package with exclusive access to attractions and activities, will launch in the coming months.
The domestic campaign runs from May 30 to Oct. 22. Internationally, “Always San Francisco” digital marketing campaigns will run in Australia, India, Asia Pacific, Europe, Canada, and Mexico.
The $6 million+ campaign is funded by a sub-grant from Visit California, a grant from San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, San Francisco Travel, and industry stakeholders.
San Francisco’s tourism industry has steadily recovered since the city’s reopening in 2021. This year, San Francisco Travel has forecasted 23.9 million visitor arrivals and visitor spending of $8.9 billion, an increase of $1 billion compared to 2022.
About SAN FRANCISCO TRAVEL
The San Francisco Travel Association is the official destination marketing organization for the City and County of San Francisco. The city is one of the top tourism and meetings destinations in the U.S. and received 21.9 million visitors in 2022. Total tourism spending in 2022 exceeded $7.7 billion. The tourism industry is the largest generator of outside revenue into San Francisco’s economy and supports over 53,000 jobs.
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