Chris Thompson is goin’ fishin’. But colleagues and well-wishers will have until May 31, 2024 – after IPW in Los Angeles – to say goodbye to the popular Brand USA exec, who announced his retirement yesterday.

Well-known to the Canadian travel trade, Thompson has the US’s destination marketing organization (DMO) as President and CEO since 2012, having previously spent over 15 years as an executive at VISIT FLORIDA, including three years as President and CEO.

Thompson said he has decided to step down in order to pursue life beyond work.

During his time as President and CEO, Thompson has played a pivotal role in promoting the US as a top travel destination, having helped increase international visitations and notably steering the recovery of the US travel industry from the COVID-19 pandemic.

An advocate of inclusive and complication-free travel for visitors, Thompson believes that travel is about telling and experiencing stories, and that the US has a lot of them to tell. And that it is Brand USA’s job to help share and communicate the breadth of those diverse offerings, across every region of the country, globally.

“Under Chris’s strategic guidance, the Brand USA team has kept the USA the preferred travel destination in the world,” stated Todd Davidson, Chair of the Brand USA Board and CEO of Travel Oregon. “Chris’s integrity, tenacity, passion and belief in the power of the travel and tourism industry to bring prosperity to all Americans, fueled the advancement of the US travel and tourism industry and established an organizational foundation of innovation, resiliency, and future-focused confidence. We all wish him the very best in his retirement.”

Thompson commented: “It has been an incredible privilege to serve as President and CEO of Brand USA. I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished together, and I am confident that the organization will continue to thrive under new leadership.”

Brand USA says it is beginning a search for Thompson’s successor.