Mission, Vision, and Values

Our Story

Established by the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 as the nation’s first public-private partnership to spearhead a globally coordinated marketing effort to promote the United States as a premier travel destination and communicate U.S. visa and entry policies, Brand USA began operations in May 2011.

As one of the best levers for driving economic growth, international travel to the United States supports more than 1 million American jobs and benefits virtually every sector of the U.S. economy. The international segment of the travel economy is especially high-value because visitors from abroad on average spend more time and money and visit more destinations than domestic travelers. Since its founding, Brand USA has worked with thousands of partner organizations to invite the world to explore the exceptional, diverse, and virtually limitless travel experiences and destinations available in the United States of America.

According to studies by Oxford Economics, over the past 11 years, Brand USA's marketing efforts have generated 8.7 million incremental visitors, nearly $28.8 billion in incremental spend, more than 36,800 incremental jobs supported each year, $8.3 billion in federal, state, and local taxes, and early $63 billion in total economic impact. Importantly, approximately half the jobs supported are outside the travel and tourism industry, including manufacturing, construction, finance, retail, and more.

Brand USA’s operations are supported by a combination of nonfederal contributions from destinations, travel brands, and private-sector organizations plus matching funds collected by the U.S. government from international visitors traveling under the Visa Waiver Program.

Visit TheBrandUSA.com for industry and partner information.

Visit VisitTheUSA.com for exceptional and unexpected travel experiences in the United States.