Travel South USA Global Media Summit concludes in Louisville, Kentucky

With the objective to promote the states of southern United States, Travel South USA, a regional marketing alliance of southern USA, hosted its Travel South Global Media Summit at Louisville in Kentucky, with almost 50 top journalists from across the globe on attendance.

The two-day event, which was sandwiched between pre- and post-event familiarisation trips for the media, featured a number of presentations, panel discussions and opportunities for the visiting journalists to interact with the top tourism industry leaders in southern USA.

Travel South USA is an alliance of 12 southern states including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

The large participation by journalists from around the world at the event provided a platform for two-way exchange of information between the tourism industry leaders and the media representatives.

India Outbound’s Varsha Singh (far right) addressing travel industry stakeholders from South USA on travel trends in India (Photo: Travel South USA)

One of the key highlights of the Global South USA Global Media Summit 2025 was the session, Master Class: Get More Bang for Your Media Buck at which Varsha Singh, Editorial Director and Product Head, India Outbound had been invited to participate as a speaker.

Singh had the unique opportunity to address an august gathering of tourism professionals from South USA, including CEOs of several tourism bodies. The panel discussion was moderated by Mathu Premaruban of Ruban Communications and the co-panelist was Annabel Grossman, Global Travel Editor, The Independent, a leading daily in the United Kingdom.

The panel discussion provided a unique opportunity to bring the participants abreast with the latest developments of the Indian outbound travel market and the oceans of possibilities that it holds for destinations around the world, notably the USA, which has seen an explosion in the number of Indian visitors in the post-pandemic era and for many parts of the US, India is now the second or third largest international source market.

A large number of meetings took place at the Media Marketplace organised during the event (Photo: India Outbound)

Another key element of the event was the Media Marketplace where various destinations in southern USA had opportunities to meet with media representatives and brief them on the tourism potential of their territories. A large number of back-to-back meetings were pre-organised as part of this Media Marketplace.

Liz Bittner

Liz Bittner, President and Chief Executive Officer, of Travel South USA, says that the event was highly successful and all the key objectives had been met.

“It is all good news. We had 47 journalists from all over the world, primarily from Canada, Western Europe, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia and India. And the response has been amazing. I think it was a good time to have a real conversation amongst people and in the right setting. And we are here in beautiful Louisville, Kentucky, in this beautiful hotel. So, the table is set well to be a good experience and then, you know, topping up with everyone really wants to understand what can we do together, you know, to weather whatever storm clouds are gathering be it over the economy or other kinds of other challenges. Everyone has gathered here to have a discussion on what we can do together to move forward, because that is what friends do,’’ Bittner tells India Outbound.

For the host state Kentucky, the media gathering proved to be an ideal way to showcase the state and its myriad attractions to media personnel from around the world.

Chennelle McGee

“We could not have asked for a better year, especially one to be hosted right here in Louisville, Kentucky. To invite all of these media just to have a taste of what we have to offer, we know it is just the beginning, but it has been an incredible start. I cannot wait to welcome people back. I think that they all want to come back and were surprised and delighted with the amount of attractions that they did not know we had here. Whether it be the Kentucky Derby, whether it be our bourbon distilleries, that is just the welcome that we offer,’’ Chennelle McGee, International & Domestic Director, Team Kentucky, tells India Outbound.

Even before the Global South USA Media Summit 2025 event wound up, preparations had already begun for the next year and the host state Alabama was present in strength at Louisville to brief global media about the tentative outlines of the event and the numerous wonders that the state holds for visitors, foreign or American.

In 2026, the event will be hosted by Alabama in Mobile, one of its most famous cities that is known for its culture, architecture, the Gulf Coast and culinary riches. The city is already gearing up to receive media from around the world in a year from now.

Ashley Rains

“We are absolutely thrilled that we are going to be able to host our international partners and Travel south in Mobile next year. We are excited to bring this whole community down to the Gulf Coast so that people can experience and discover the culture of Mobile because it is a tapestry that is intertwined by the culture that has been there for almost 325 years. Something that we like to kind of highlight about Mobile is that whatever your expectations are, we are going to upgrade those. You are going to have a fabulous experience  regardless of whether you are enjoying our amazing Gulf cuisine, our architecture, the cultural heritage in our area that focusses on the history of Mobile with a purposeful and very distinct way.  I think it is going to be very exciting to have that highlighted with our international partners and seeing what all Mobile has to offer because we are the city that is born to celebrate. We are just excited to celebrate Travel South Global Week in 2026,” Ashley Rains, Public Relations and Communications Manager, Visit Mobile Alabama, tells India Outbound.