Brand USA Picks Skerritt For Canada
Brand USA has named Colin Skerritt as its regional director in Canada.
In this new Toronto-based position, Skerritt will be focused on promoting the United States as a premier travel destination to Canadian travellers.
As well, Skerritt will be responsible for bringing the full force of all of Brand USA’s resources to develop and implement Brand USA’s ongoing strategies in the Canadian market related to travel trade outreach, consumer marketing, consumer public relations, and partner marketing.
With over 15 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry in Canada, Skerritt has a strong track record of increasing the number of Canadian travellers who choose to visit the destinations he has promoted.
From 2016 to 2018, Skerritt was the director of tourism in Canada for the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority (ABTA) where he directed the tourism authority’s marketing strategies (travel trade marketing, digital marketing, media relationships, and public relations) to reach Canadian travellers. In just his second year with ABTA, Skerritt led Antigua to an 85% increase in arrivals from Canada, which led all tourism growth from Canada to the Caribbean during 2018.
Prior to his time at ABTA, Skerritt led corporate and leisure sales and marketing programs for Air Canada, where he was the global accounts manager from 2010 to 2016 with responsibilities for travel revenue growth in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom.
While at Air Canada, Skerritt worked directly with the airline’s largest corporate and leisure travel management partners and led the Air Canada Vacations relationship.
From 2007 to 2010, he was the manager, regional sales for Virgin Atlantic Airways.
Tom Garzilli, chief marketing officer of Brand USA, said: “We are pleased to welcome Colin to the Brand USA team and are confident he will contribute greatly to our efforts in Canada, the number one inbound travel market to the USA.”
Garzilli continued: “Canada is a critically important market to the United States’ international travel and tourism marketing strategies — accounting for more than 26% of all international arrivals to the United States. We are committed to expanding our marketing efforts with travel partners and the travel trade, as well as expanding our consumer-facing initiatives to further increase the number of Canadian travellers we welcome to the USA each year.”
Skerritt reports to Cathy Domanico, vice president, global trade development. He will work with Brand USA’s global trade development, marketing, and corporate communications teams across the organization to develop and execute the organization’s strategic objectives, key initiatives, and plans to expand Brand USA’s global opportunities in the Canadian outbound travel market.
Commenting on his appointment, Skerritt said: “I am honoured to be part of the Brand USA team and I look forward to promoting travel from my home country, which I love, to one for which I have a strong passion and affinity.”
