Five Brand USA board members, including the board chair, were abruptly fired via email following orders from the White House, travel news portal Skift reported.
The five board members relieved of their Brand USA board duties were chair Elliott Ferguson, CEO of Destination DC; vice chair Lauren Bailey, CEO of Upward Projects; Kristen Esposito, principal of Esposito Global Partners; secretary Allen Orr, founder of Orr Immigration Law; and Tim Mapes, chief marketing and communications officer at Delta Air Lines.
The moves were seen as part of the Trump Administration's moves to put its stamp on the US tourism industry.
"Trump is turning over the board,” a source told Skift.
Ferguson was only five months into his one-year term.
A Brand USA spokesperson said: “Brand USA has no comment regarding your query. We refer you to the US Department of Commerce, which manages board appointments.”
There was no mention of the sackings on the Brand USA website.
Tourism to the US has slumped post-Covid and even more since Donald Trump became president for the second time.
Australians, famed for long stays, were identified as a target market for the US, but recent data from the US International Trade Administration shows that Australian visitor numbers plunged by 7% in March this year compared to the year before.
The drop in Australians travelling to the US comes amidst reports of travellers being denied entry, hassled by immigration officials and phones being seized to search for anti-Trump sentiments.
Other countries with a significant reduction in people travelling to the US included Canada, Colombia, Germany and the UK.
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