Travel South USA is America’s oldest and largest regional travel promotion organization, formed in 1965 by resolution presented at the Southern Governor’s Conference. 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 provide 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.

In 2019, the Travel South USA region hosted 7.3 million international visitors, spending $10.3 billion on hotels, meals, shopping, attractions, and other goods and services. According to Tourism Economics, this banner year capped a 10-year growth, largely outpacing the total
USA growth in visitors and spending.

Despite unprecedented losses in 2020 and early 2021, due to the worldwide pandemic, we expect to see recovery starting Q3 2021 and forecast a 5-8% growth in arrivals between 2019 to 2025.

Travel South USA works closely with over 350 destination marketing organizations and private sector organizations including hotels, restaurants, attractions, destination management companies, and transportation companies. We proudly partner with Brand USA on marketing, advertising and promotional programs to stretch our investments and reach consumers ready to travel to the Southern USA.