With the objective of showcasing the great natural beauty and outdoors of the United States, through its big-screen film Into Nature’s Wild, Brand USA has organised unique sales mission in India.

Brand USA’s 2023 India sales mission, which began in Mumbai on March 19 concluded in New Delhi today with the screening of a big-screen film, Into Nature’s Wild, that highlights the great natural beauty and outdoors hidden across the entire United States.

Narrated by noted Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman, the movie celebrates the transformational essence of nature and wilderness, showcasing the beauty of some of North America’s lesser-known landscapes. Throughout the journey, three trailblazers, Native American astronaut John Herrington, Alaskan pilot and youth advocate Ariel Tweto and record-breaking long-distance hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis, who share passion for nature, serve as on-screen guides. The screenings of the film would also be held in Chennai and Bengaluru.

As many as 25 exhibitors from the USA, select Indian buyers and key stakeholders including airlines, hotels and members of the diplomatic corps of the USA in India attended the meetings.

According to a press statement issued by Brand USA, India ranks 4th among all overseas markets for the USA excluding Canada and Mexico, with 1,256,915 in total arrivals between January and December 2022. The statement adds that the latest figures released at the end of February revealed 203,540 Indians travelled to the United States, showing continuing strong growth in visitor arrivals.

Air connectivity between the two countries also further strengthened, with Air India launching two direct flights to San Francisco from Bangalore and Mumbai in December 2022 and from Mumbai to New York (JFK) on February 14, taking their total number of non-stop flights to 46 weekly. These are in addition to seven weekly direct flights operated from Newark to Delhi by United Airlines and seven weekly direct flights from New York (JFK) by American Airlines.

‘‘It is exciting to see the continued enthusiasm for travel to the US and this week has cemented the fact that India is a fast- growing market with tremendous potential for growth in tourism. This was the perfect opportunity for Brand USA and our partners to reignite our relationships with the Indian travel trade in person and we were thrilled to see a heightened interest in exploring beyond the gateways to lesser-known destinations,’’ says Jackie Ennis, Vice President, Global Travel Trade at Brand USA.

The statement adds that Brand USA, a public-private entity, began operations in May 2011.  According to studies by Oxford Economics, over the past eight years Brand USA’s marketing initiatives have helped welcome 7.6 million incremental visitors to the United States, benefiting the US economy with more than USD 55.7 billion in total economic impact and supporting, on average, more than 45,000 incremental jobs a year.