Скачать или смотреть Malcolm Smith, General Manager of IPW - How U.S. Travel made IPW Las Vegas 2021 happen

Malcolm Smith, General Manager of IPW talks to TravelMedia.ie about how U.S. Travel made IPW Las Vegas 2021 happen.

What is IPW?
As a leading inbound travel trade show, past IPWs have generated more than $5.5 billion in future travel by connecting U.S. travel exhibitors with travel buyers and media to promote their product and negotiate future business, securing America’s position as a foremost global travel destination and showcasing the best of what the U.S. has to offer. U.S. Travel Association’s IPW will continue to reunite and rebuild the global travel industry in 2022, providing an in-person platform to conduct business and renew our relationships around the world

Find out more:
https://www.ipw.com/
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Video Transcript:
It's been quite a wild ride the past year and a half for everyone in this industry. From our destinations to the international tour operators, the press, for us, it's just been a very challenging year to try to get IPW to happen again. As we all know, we had to cancel on May of 2020 for obvious reasons but we really wanted to bring people back to America because what happens at IPW is so important for the international traveler and where they go and how they travel through the USA. In a normal year IPW generate $5.5 billion of future travel to the USA. So it was imperative that we get the show back on it's speed but in a safe and healthy way. So what we did is we'd originally had re-booked for May of 2021 right here in the Grand New West Hall of the Convention Center. But then we were looking last fall and things were still looking very iffy about getting international delegates to the USA or even being able to meet in a capacity of more than 1000 or 2000 folks. So, we work closely with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. It was getting a challenging time though because the second half of their year was already filling up completely in the Convention Center. All the major resorts, exhibit space was filling up from people having postponed over the past year. But they worked really hard because IPW is so important to Las Vegas as well with international travel just paramount to the city that they found us this date in September, they kept us in this brand new hall and we were able to welcome the world in September of 2021. We kept hoping that the borders would move earlier in the year. We had some hope around the G7 conference. There was some hope around 4th of July that the borders would reopen and it just never happened. So, a lot of our exhibitors were getting very nervous that some of their key markets UK, Ireland, EU, Brazil, India, China, some of the ones that are still impacted by the restrictions in place that they wouldn't be able to come here. So for some of the exhibitors, they had to wait, is it worth it for them to participate? But we never gave up on getting the international delegates here. And our government affairs team worked so closely with our partners at the national level with Homeland Security, The State Department, Customs and Border Protection and was working closely with them to find a way that we can get these really important journalists and buyers to IPW. And there's the National Interests Exception. Now, a lot of people were aware of this, the typical ways that they would apply through their consulate or the embassy within the market but with staffing levels so low, those interviews were taking months to plan and it just wasn't going to make it feasible. So, we spoke again with State Department, CBP and explained what happens at IPW that 5.5 billion in future travel to the U.S. is critical and that is in the national interest. So we met that criteria as a show and then number two, that the people who're coming, the journalists and the buyers are essential to be here to make the show happen. So, we were granted what was called a 30 day NIE, National Interest Exception and we're able to get 300 delegates approved through that way. This all happened very last minute within the last month. And I would say about 250 of those actually ended up making it. Now for some, it was challenging. Already logistics were getting difficult. It was so last minute, certain markets have really reduced air lift but to get that many here last minute made our exhibitors so happy, made all of us just thrilled to be able to welcome everybody back to the United States. People have not been able to meet in person for over a year and a half. It's been over two years since we last set IPW. So we wanted to build in a lot more networking this year. Some people just needed to see each other to hug or to fist bump, to have that cup of coffee, grab a drink in the evening on the show floor which we've never done before. So, just making it a lot more social, letting people catch up...