Travel South USA International Showcase brings together qualified international tour operators, U.S. Receptive Tour Operators, and Southern tourism entities for three days of appointments, networking, terrific food, and entertainment. Travel South USA International Showcase is the only regional, appointment-style marketplace focused solely on the cultural, musical, artistic, and culinary heritage of the South.

If Travel South USA were a state, the region would be the fifth largest recipient of inbound travelers, behind California, New York, and Las Vegas. In 2015, 6.7 million international visitors traveled to twelve southern states, including 3.2 million overseas visitors compared to just 2.6 million in 2007, representing 24% growth over this seven-year period.

“Our goal is to generate more international visitors to the South Carolina and our 12 regions, and so we handpick over 100 international tour operators to vet and credential as International buyers for International Showcase,” says Duane Parrish, Director, South Carolina Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. “We have tour operators coming from twenty countries including Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Benelux region, and the United Kingdom and Ireland.  During their visit, they have business meetings with hundreds of suppliers from destination marketing organizations, hotels, restaurants, attractions to local set on guide services.”

While in the charming and historic city of Charleston, all delegates will have the opportunity to experience one of the local city tours, highlighting carriage rides, guided walking tours or a visit to one of the historic plantations. Each tour is designed to highlight the unique attractions and experiences an international guest may enjoy during a visit to Charleston. We are happy to announce this year city tours will be open to both tour operators and suppliers. Suppliers will be able to register for a city tour starting September 2nd.”  

Helen Hill, Executive Director at the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, stated, “We are delighted to have the opportunity to share the Charleston area's rich history, delicious cuisine and sun-kissed beaches with the esteemed international audience at Travel South International 2017. South Carolina is well known for its authentic southern hospitality, and we want every attendee to experience this to the fullest while visiting Charleston!”

The Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Travel South USA teams cordially invite Southern tourism suppliers to register now at www.travelsouthusa.org. Be sure to register early. We fully expect to sell out again early this year!

About Travel South USA
Travel South USA is America’s oldest and largest regional travel promotion organization, formed in 1965. The long-standing regional collaboration of the state tourism offices of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia provides a foundation to positively position tourism as a vital and dynamic element in the region’s economic development. Tourism ranks throughout the region as one of the top three industries, behind manufacturing and agriculture, and is responsible for $133 billion in spending by visitors, generating 1.4 million direct jobs, $30 billion in worker paychecks, and almost $16 billion in state and local taxes. For more information, visit www.TravelSouthUSA.com for consumer information and travel industry information, www.TravelSouthUSA.org.
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Contact:
Angelica De Stefano
Coordinator, Event Marketing
& Communication
Travel South USA
404-231-1790
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Travel South USA: Facebook / Twitter / YouTube
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Travel South USA
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