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Friday,  November 8, 2024   1:56 PM
Discover America Day spotlights new frontiers in travel

The 10th annual Discover America Day took place yesterday in Toronto, providing a platform for various U.S. representatives to connect with travel media and showcase their destinations and products in a speed-dating-style appointment format.

The marketplace floorThis year’s Discover America Day was attended by more than 30 tourism delegates from across the United States, and was sponsored by Air Canada, Atlantic City, Kennedy Space Center, Simon Shopping Destination and Visit California.

Following the morning media marketplace, a luncheon brought suppliers, media and exhibitors together for an overview of the tourism climate to the U.S. from Canada for 2015.

A tourism forecast given by the National Travel & Tourism Office in June put visiting numbers from Canada up by one per cent, with further growth expected to reach 15 per cent between 2014 and 2020. An update on the semi-annual forecast is expected for the end of October, with the one per cent growth likely to be revised strongly downward. The changes will likely reduce the current compound average growth rate forecast, which was 2.3 per cent, to leverage closer to about one per cent.

Regardless of what the numbers report, the turnout at Discover America Day gave a strong indication in Canadian interest in travel opportunities south of the border.

“While temporarily, travel seems a bit soft in the U.S.,” Sana Keller, president of Discover America Canada said, “what’s great to see is that we have all manner of support from U.S. representatives and exhibitors who continue to believe that Canada is the strongest market. We will continue to send Canadians to the U.S., write great stories, and be productive in the U.S. market.”

Astronaut Don Thomas

The luncheon also featured presentations aimed to intrigue and inspire further thoughts on tourism and included surprise guest Don Thomas, an American astronaut who shared insights on his four journeys to space in promotion of the Kennedy Space Center. An enlightening address was also made by keynote speaker Rebecca Mackenzie of the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance (OCTA), regarding the considerable potential for food tourism to drive the travel industry.

Wrapping up the day was a cocktail event allowing for networking between exhibitors and suppliers in a more casual environment – and in the case of Don Thomas, who also attended the evening gathering, some follow-up questions about the future of space tourism.

Stay tuned to PAX tomorrow for a roundup of what’s new in popular U.S. destinations. 

PHOTO: Discover America Day Board of Directors: Chris Robinson, vice-president; Sana Keller, president; Don Thomas, former NASA astronaut; Stephen Fine, secretary/treasurer; Susan Webb, board member, & Ruth Williamson, ex-officio.

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