This holiday weekend, 186,000 visitors are expected in the state, and New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen says a federal public/private partnership could help those numbers grow even bigger. She stopped by Portsmouth Tuesday morning to talk with the state’s tourism industry leaders.
Back in 2009, Congress passed the Travel Promotion Act, which created Brand USA, a tourism promotion corporation that is funded equally with private dollars and federal matching grants. Senator Shaheen says Brand USA is going to bat for New Hampshire.
It’s really exciting to see that it’s now up and running in Canada, in the UK, and in Japan, where we know there is a lot of interest in New Hampshire.
Over the last year, people in those countries have been seeing advertisements for US tourism on TV, billboards and social media. This month, people in Mexico and Brazil will join their ranks, too.
Shaheen says until last year, the United States was the only industrialized nation that didn’t advertise internationally for tourism dollars, even though tourism is New Hampshire’s second-largest industry.
Later in the year, the campaign expands to Australia, China, South Korea and Germany.