Brand USA and STA Travel have signed a global deal worth $4million over the next two years to promote the USA to the youth travel market.

This is the first time that Brand USA, the official tourism marketing organisation for the United States of America, has embarked on a dedicated youth marketing campaign.

The USA is already a key destination for STA Travel, the world’s leading student and youth tour operator for 18 to 35 year-olds, but it is aiming to increased sales to the USA by 30 per cent over the two year period.

The campaign has launched in the UK, Northern and Central Europe, Asia, Australasia and South Africa with a competition for three winners to each win a road trip to the USA.

The winners will be joined by a professional film crew in order to gain exciting and experiential footage that can be placed online.

The aim is to get under the skin of America and search for what makes the USA a unique destination to the youth traveller so they can discover this land like never before.

The campaign will largely be driven online across a number of social media and digital platforms, across college campus activity and throughout STA Travel global retail stores.

STA Travel chief executive, John Constable, said: “We are delighted to be working together with Brand USA on this ambitious campaign.

“We’ve seen the popularity and demand for the USA grow exponentially over the past five years and see this as an opportunity to carve out a unique proposition about USA to the youth audience.

“Brand USA couldn’t have come at a better time; the USA has needed a consolidated marketing approach for some time and we are very excited about working together to promote a very special landscape.”

Brand USA is the public-private partnership responsible for promoting the United States as a premier travel destination and communicating US entry/exit policies and procedures.