Brand USA has today announced three new initiatives specifically for the travel trade, including a USA Discovery Program incentive for agents in the UK & Ireland, a brand new global .com site, and plans for an online USA Tool Kit.

The incentive has been launched on the UK version of the USA Discovery Program, Brand USA's official travel agent training platform for the United States of America. Members simply need to earn any five badges of their choice on the site to be entered into a prize draw where one lucky USA specialist winner will receive return flights to anywhere in the USA with American Airlines and British Airways, as well as a state-of-the-art GoPro camera.

The competition aims to draw new users to the award-winning training platform, as well as engage existing users ahead of the holiday period. Three runners up will also receive GoPro cameras in the prize draw and the incentive will run from 10 November – 15 December, with winners announced the week before Christmas.

To coincide with the incentive period, five brand new badges will launch on the site to ensure all members can enter the competition. These new bespoke partner badges are:

• Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
• Florida's Paradise Coast (including Naples, Marco Island, Everglades)
• North Dakota Department of Commerce
• Texas Tourism
• Universal Studios Hollywood

Each badge provides an overview of the destination, product and attraction, with in-depth sections focusing on accommodations, food and drink, nightlife, must see/must do experiences, as well as new rides and car hire locations. The new badges will join a host of existing 'Extra Learning' material available on the site, as well as 10 experiential specialist badges, including Music, Culture & Heritage, Fly-Drive and the Great Outdoors, bringing the total number of badges modules available to earn on the site to 33.

The USA Discovery Program is currently live in-language across seven countries, (Australia, Brazil, China, India, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK), with new sites launching in Germany, Mexico and South Korea in 2017. To enable at-desk training for agents across the globe where the in-market platform does not yet exist, a brand new global site has also been launched. The site, housed at www.USADiscoveryProgram.com, can be used by all travel professionals to enhance their knowledge of the USA as a premier holiday destination, encouraging further bookings to the United States globally.

In further travel trade developments, plans have been unveiled for a USA Trip Kit on the new Brand USA consumer website due for launch this month. The bespoke section has been built specifically for travel professionals and will provide imagery, helpful travel information tips, as well as itinerary suggestions to supplement those already available on the USA Discovery Program.

Brand USA Chief Marketing Officer, Thomas Garzilli, said, “The USA Discovery Program continues to inspire agents across the globe and our aim is to provide them with the knowledge they need to sell the USA as a premier holiday destination. Our goal is to deliver as much easy-to-access information to agents as possible to assist them in driving more bookings to the United States on our behalf and to enable us to reach our goal of 100 million visitors to the USA by 2021.”

To become a qualified USA Specialist, agents in the UK & Ireland should visit USADiscoveryProgram.co.uk

For more information about travel experiences and destinations in the United States, visit VisitTheUSA.co.uk

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About Brand USA

Brand USA, the destination marketing organisation for the United States, was established by the Travel Promotion Act as the nation's first public-private partnership to promote the United States as a premier travel destination and to communicate U.S. entry/exit policies and procedures to worldwide travelers. The organisation's mission is to increase international visitation to the USA in order to fuel the U.S. economy and enhance the image of the United States worldwide. Formed as the Corporation for Travel Promotion in 2010, the public-private entity began operations in May 2011 and does business as Brand USA. According to studies undertaken by Oxford Economics, Brand USA's marketing initiatives over the past three years have resulted in an incremental increase of 3 million visitors to the USA and a total impact on the U.S. economy of more than $21 billion, which has supported an average of 50,000  incremental jobs each year.

For industry or partner information about Brand USA, visit www.TheBrandUSA.com. For information about travel experiences in the United States, please visit Brand USA's UK consumer website at www.VisitTheUSA.co.uk.

For further press information on Brand USA contact:

• Sarah Barnett – sbarnett@thebrandusa.co.uk / 020 7845 6378
• Allie Williams – awilliams@thebrandusa.co.uk / 020 7845 6384
• Polly Beech – pbeech@thebrandusa.co.uk / 020 7845 6359
• Paula Peralta – pperalta@thebrandusa.co.uk / 020 7845 6383