Las Vegas hosted the largest Pow Wow ever this year, now renamed International Pow Wow (IPW), with more than 6,400 delegates from 74 countries attending the annual US Travel Association event, as well as more than 500 journalists. Roger Dow, USTA Chief Executive, said that this IPW was fresh and current, had generated 90,000 pre-show appointments, and was designed to bring the world to America. “That is what makes this a world-class event,” he added.
Last year the USA attracted 66.6 million international visitors, an increase of 4.3% over 2011, and they spent $168 billion. This is an average spend per person per visit of $4,455 with an average stay of 18 nights, and makes tourism one of the USA’s leading exports.
Next year IPW will be held in Chicago from 5th – 9th April, and the windy city is promising a great event. The city last hosted Pow Wow in 1998. Chicago rebranded itself as ‘Choose Chicago’ in 2012, and is now the tenth most visited US city by international visitors. The city offers over 200 theatres and over 5,000 restaurants. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who wants the industry to go out and tell the world how great the city of Chicago is, said: “So come visit the most American of American cities.”
The host cities for the subsequent years are Orlando (2015), Miami (2016), Washington DC (2017), Denver (2018), Anaheim (2019) and it’s back to Las Vegas in 2020.
