The first quarter of 2025 is already off to an exciting start! With successful roadshows, a growing supplier base, and new buyer engagement on the National Travel Trade Portal, the Tourism Exchange USA team has been actively expanding our impact across the industry. From California to Brazil to New Zealand, we’re seeing increased adoption and enthusiasm for the Exchange. Read on to learn about our latest milestones, upcoming opportunities, and how it all contributes to our mission of Making the USA Bookable.
Here’s What’s New This Quarter
- Supplier Engagement is Thriving
- New Connectivity: Peek is now officially live!
- Buyer Adoption and Product Enhancements on the Trade Portal
- Expanding Destination Partnerships
- Updates From Recent Industry Events + Where We’ll Be This Summer
Strengthening Supplier Engagement
The Supplier Success team entered Q1 2025 with strong momentum, building on steady growth over the past two quarters. Since January 1st, we’ve seen a 60% increase in active suppliers on the Exchange, thanks to a combination of in-market engagement, virtual education, and growing industry awareness. Events in California and Kentucky yielded strong participation, and our Utah supplier webinar drew the highest attendance we’ve seen to date—an encouraging signal of the state’s growing interest in the platform.
Education continues to be a cornerstone of our outreach efforts. In February, we hosted our first California roadshow in partnership with Visit California, with in-person workshops led by team members Albert Navarro and Tom Boland in Lodi and Redding. These sessions offered a hands-on introduction to the travel trade ecosystem and demonstrated how the Exchange can support suppliers in expanding their digital presence and reaching new distribution channels. The strong turnout and high level of engagement reflected a growing appetite among California tourism businesses to connect with the global travel trade.
Interested in bringing a roadshow to your destination? Contact us at [email protected] to get the conversation started.
Connectivity & Platform Growth
It’s been a busy time for our development team. The popular booking system for tours and activities, Peek, is now officially live as a connected system on the Exchange. This new connection means that Peek users can connect easily to share inventory and rates to new distribution channels via the Exchange.
We’re also actively seeking suppliers who use Galaxy Gateway or Xola to help us with beta testing new connections to those systems before we push them live. Reach out to [email protected] if you’re a business that’s interested in helping us test.
In the pipeline, we’ve completed some initial testing with Booking Hound, and had some promising conversations with RezNexus, AnyRoad, Redeem, and several more on the horizon.
On the other side of the market, we’re excited about the addition of Places.Travel as a new distributor on the Exchange. The goal of their travel site is to “uncover the extraordinary in the everyday—natural wonders, cultural gems, and off-the-path attractions that real travelers can actually reach, afford, and enjoy.” We’re excited to welcome a local, low-cost channel focused on domestic travel audiences. Places.Travel is available for supplier opt-in via the Exchange now, and will complete the booking integration into its newly redesigned site soon.
Upgrades to the National Travel Trade Portal
The first few months of the year included a few big upgrades to user experience for the Exchange’s B2B marketplace connecting travel trade buyers from around the world with unique experiences and accommodations across the USA.
In March, we launched a significant update to the Portal’s user interface and content display. After clicking on a product card in the search grid, an expanded content view opens as a modal that includes a larger image display, image slider, and more product information. This display is a better experience on mobile and tablet devices, and provides better information for buyers.
As the volume of products available in the portal continues growing, we also need to provide easier paths to discover specific products that align with the needs of buyers and their clients. In February we pushed a set of changes to how search works inside the Portal, expanding the capabilities for discovery by improving the quality of the search functionality.
We’ve made a number of other improvements in Q1, including bug fixes and other updates — in addition to significant growth in available products — so if it’s been a while since you’re last visit, be sure to login and see what’s new!
Buyer Testimonials: What the Industry is Saying
Interest from global trade buyers continues to rise. We have more than 50 organizations from 14 countries registered as buyers on the National Travel Trade Portal. Many of these buyers have shared that they value the platform’s ability to surface unique accommodations and activities not available through traditional bedbanks or large booking platforms—allowing them to offer their clients more curated, one-of-a-kind travel experiences.
Here’s what some of them are saying:
“It gives us central access to a lot of niche operators who provide unique experiences that we normally wouldn’t sell as we would need to book and pay via their websites.”
– Andrew Gay, Travel USA Limited, New Zealand
“The Exchange is a game changer for the Brazil market, providing direct access to a diverse range of bookable products—from independent hotels to unique local activities and attractions. This direct connectivity meets the growing demand for authentic travel experiences and empowers our partners to offer truly differentiated travel options.”
– Allan Colen, Outlook Reps, Brazil
Expanding Destination Partnerships
Our destination partnerships continue to evolve with a focus on enabling booking at the local level and expanding access for small businesses to global sales channels.
In California, Visit Morgan Hill recently began integrating bookable product from the Exchange into the DMO’s website and marketing channels. Adding bookable inventory creates a direct path for visitors to find and book local hotels and experiences. Visit Tuolumne County is exploring a similar opportunity to add booking functionality on its site for local partners connected to the Exchange.
In New Mexico, recent engagement with the communities of Grants, Albuquerque, and Gallup has led to new rounds of supplier outreach, including an in-person meeting in Grants, and a TripAdvisor audit in Gallup to identify gaps in visibility for local partners. These activities are part of a broader effort to support rural and regional destinations in building stronger digital distribution strategies.
NM to discuss how the Exchange can support digital growth and visibility.
TXUSA on the Road: Trade Shows & Conferences
From coast to coast, the Tourism Exchange USA team has been out in full force—connecting with partners, sharing our mission, and expanding awareness of the Exchange across the industry.
Where We’ve Been
- Visit California Outlook Forum & Board Meeting: TXUSA President Nate Huff and representatives from Visit SLO CAL, Yosemite Mariposa County, and Visit Morgan Hill hosted a panel discussion highlighting how destinations are leveraging the Exchange to expand global reach. With over 100 attendees at the panel session, there was great engagement from the audience.
- Regional Engagement in the Southeast: We continue to deepen partnerships across Travel South states with targeted DMO outreach. Highlights from Q1 included statewide webinars in Mississippi and West Virginia, a well-attended, in-person supplier event in Louisville, and a mainstage presentation at West Virginia’s Tourism Day. These events help increase awareness and readiness for Exchange adoption throughout the region.
Couldn’t catch us at those events? No problem! Come say hi at our upcoming events:
Where We’ll Be
- June 8-11: Florida Attractions 2025 Annual Conference
- June 14-18: IPW 2025
- July 9-11: Destinations International 2025 Annual Convention
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