Skift Power Rankings: Fred Dixon

Fred Dixon has won a lot of fans during his 30 years in the tourism industry, in large part because of his willingness to fight for the interests of travel businesses.

The support will serve him well as he starts his new role leading America’s tourism marketers as Brand USA’s CEO and President. Destinations with smaller budgets and weaker international presence will look to him for global market reach.

“Our greatest value proposition is for the lesser known, resourced, sophisticated, because we’re the quickest path to anybody getting into the international [market],” said Chris Thompson, Dixon’s predecessor at Brand USA.

Dixon has sat at key seats of influence in the industry: chair of Destinations International, a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, the U.S. Travel Association Executive Committee.

Dixon’s most recent role was CEO and president of NYC Tourism + Conventions where he played a big role in building a local industry coalition and working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to ensure the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 included added stimulus for tourism marketing.

“One of the things we said to him was, ‘Whatever stimulus funds are out there, and whatever packages are passed in Washington, need to have the caveat that they can be used for tourism marketing,’” said Dixon in July 2023. “They actually went back to the bill, amended it to say that tourism marketing is an approved expenditure of ARPA.”

NYC Tourism ultimately ended up with $30 million to promote the message that New York City was safe and ready for tourism again.

He’ll have a much bigger budget to work with now at Brand USA: $200 million.

He’ll be responsible for maintaining relations with Congress to have the organization reauthorized for fiscal year 2028 and beyond so it can market and advertise. 

Dixon will also work with the State Department, Commerce Department and other federal agencies to ease the flow of inbound travel.

Fred Dixon at Skift Global Forum