LAS VEGAS — The US Travel Association’s IPW travel industry marketplace, the largest generator of inbound international travel to the United States, saw a 20% increase in attendance over the 2023 event at its 55th annual conference this week. Held May 3-7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, IPW attracted approximately 5,700 attendees from nearly 70 countries, with buyers and media up 15% and media up 16% over last year. IPW generates more than $5.5 billion in economic impact from future travel to the United States.
IPW brought together U.S. travel suppliers, tour operators and international buyers for some 100,000 business meetings scheduled over three days. While the year-over-year growth in attendance is an indication of tourism’s continued recovery, total inbound visitors to the U.S. remained at just 84% through the end of 2023, up from 2019 levels.
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Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, spoke about the lack of international visitors at IPW. “If you look at travel as an export, before the pandemic, we had a total trade surplus of $12 billion. At the end of last year, we had a trade deficit of about $50 billion,” Freeman said. “We have serious issues on the inbound international travel side that we need to address. Some of those issues are within our control and some of those are beyond our control. There’s not much we can do about the strength of our dollar. There’s not much we can do about the flight restrictions over Russian airspace, which are a major barrier to Asian travelers coming to the United States. But there are a lot of issues we can control, like visa wait times, customs inefficiencies, the challenges travelers now have in connecting flights and having to iron their bags when they arrive in the United States.” Let’s talk about those areas where we can make a difference.”
Brand USA is back as the presenting sponsor of IPW. Chris Thompson, President and CEO of Brand USA, also spoke to the media at IPW. “We’ve worked closely with our industry partners to understand how their needs have changed in a post-pandemic world. We know how important international visitors are to their local economies. And we’re going to have to move forward to do everything we can to grow international travel in their communities.”
Fred Dixon, CEO of New York City Tourism + Conventions, is the new president and CEO of Brand USA and will take over the organization on July 15.
In addition to the on-the-show meetings, attendees were treated to superstar entertainment during IPW, including an opening night performance by Diana Ross at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and lunchtime performances throughout the event by Ziggy Marley, Broadway stars presented by Broadway Inbound and New York City Tourism + Conventions, and alternative rock band Dogstar featuring Keanu Reeves on bass.
Other highlights included the Universal Studios Hollywood takeover on closing night, destination tours hosted for buyers and media, and a variety of post-FAM tours throughout California.
The 56th IPW will be held in Chicago from June 14-18, 2025.
Contact Geoff Freeman at 202-408-8422