America's travel recovery: Visitors seek meaningful experiences beyond the big cities post-Covid-19 - The Straits Times

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Three years after Covid-19 lockdowns shut down the world, travel both to and within the United States continues to rebound, and the travel industry is doing everything it can to woo back international visitors.

But as tourists return to the US, there are signs that international travel may look a little different post-pandemic, with the economic downturn pricing out travellers on a tight budget and the rest increasingly seeking more meaningful and curated experiences.

And US travel operators face many of the same issues as those elsewhere, such as staff shortages and fewer international flights.

This is according to industry players and analysts who attended the annual Go West Summit, a business-to-business tourism convention held earlier in 2023 in Anchorage, Alaska.

It connected US travel operators and marketing organisations with travel agents from all over the world, including five from Singapore, part of a delegation led by the US Embassy in Singapore.

The feedback from attendees suggests that foreign travellers to the US want something a little different these days.

Speaking to The Straits Times at the event, Ms Mary Motsenbocker, president and founder of Go West Summit, says: “When people first start travelling to the US, they go to the big cities and try to see as much of the country as possible.

“But the trend now with second- and third-time visitors is that they want to experience the real America – they want to see Native American villages; they want to get the culture and feel of the US; and they want to get out of the big cities to where it’s safe and wide open, and they can actually have one-on-one experiences with people.

“That’s what we’ve been asked for.”

Domestic tourism helped sustain the US travel industry during the pandemic, which saw a surge in Americans exploring their own country.

But that bubble is finally subsiding as growth in domestic leisure travel levels off, and US tour operators “really want international travellers back”, Ms Motsenbocker says.

“It diversifies everybody’s economy, so we don’t just have travellers from the state next door. We have people from all over the world. And everybody’s welcoming and wanting and marketing to the international market once again.”

Ms Lisa Simon – who heads the International Inbound Travel Association, a trade association of tour operators, suppliers and destination marketing agencies – says her 200 or so members are optimistic that foreign visitors will return.

“Through all the torturous years of the pandemic, our members knew the international business would be back – it’s just a waiting game.”

Adblock test (Why?)