Jump into all the latest travel news to end your week! 

How Will Marriott Position Its 30 Hotel Brands? 

When Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood officially closed last month, making it the world’s largest hotel company by number of rooms, Marriott inherited 11 hotel brands to add to its portfolio of 19, for a grand total of 30 brands. That’s a lot of hotel brands for one company but, even so, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson has been adamant in saying that all 30 will be sticking around, at least for the foreseeable future. So now comes the hard part: Just what is Marriott planning to do to make sure each one of those 30 brands is distinct enough from one another, and all the other hotel brands out there?

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Brand USA and U.S. Tourism Groups Target India as the Next Major  Tourism Market

For the last year, U.S. officials and members of the tourism industry have engaged in a partnership with China, aimed at better educating Chinese travel agents and connecting U.S. tour providers with the right Chinese travelers. Chinese travelers are core to Brand USA’s goal of bringing 100 milling visitors to the U.S. by 2021. But China alone can’t make up for the shortfall in tourism from U.S. neighbors like Canada and Mexico. Next year, Brand USA and other U.S. officials with revisit the goal of driving tourism from Asian countries through a similar partnership with India.

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New leadership for Expedia business division

Egencia, the corporate travel division of the Expedia group, yesterday announced their strategy for 2017 and beyond, as well as a new global organisation to support their ambition to be the “most business traveler-centric company in the world”.Having enjoyed significant growth over the past several years, the company is now turning its attention to the next stage of their own and the industry’s evolution.

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Italy Looks to Focus on Wellness Tourism

According to report in Tourism Review, Italy is diving head first into wellness tourism.  The lucrative sector already produces a lot of revenue worldwide, and Italy wants to get a slice of the pie.

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Have a great weekend, my friends!