Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/5950
To say that 2009 was a challenging year for the hospitality, travel and meetings industry would be a gross understatement. The convergence of bank failures, skyrocketing airline fuel prices, falling occupancy rates and the perceived excesses of some corporate incentive travel programs, creat- ed that proverbial perfect storm that shook our industry to its core. That's the bad news. It's encouraging to note that despite the eco- nomic hardships we've all had to face, African- Americans have continued to travel, participate in meetings and conventions, and attend family reunions at a rate significantly higher than other segments of the marketplace. Financial challenges are nothing new to the African-American community. We have historically had to work harder to achieve the same results, make due with less access to resources, and overcome the same economic bumps in the road as everyone else, while still dealing with that old bugaboo institutional racism. So I'm not surprised that the travel/conference buying patterns of Black folks have not been impacted as much as those of the general market. The good news is that 2010 presents us all with a plethora of golden opportunities to rededicate ourselves to bringing travel and meetings activities back to pre-recession levels. And many of these golden opportunities are being identified and capitalized upon by astute marketers who see the intrinsic value of tapping into the more than $45 billion underserved African-American market. This is not the first time that industry marketing gurus tar- geted the African-American travel segment when the econo- my went sour and they needed to put heads in beds and stop the hemorrhaging. In fact, it was under very similar circum- stance that the forerunner to Black Meetings & Tourism (The Black Convention) was founded in 1989 as destinations that had long ignored the African-American market put aside tra- dition, and perhaps some vestiges of bias, to bolster the bottom line and get back into the black (no pun intended). Periodically, whenever the travel/meetings industry is affected by a faltering economy, destination marketers and hoteliers turn their attention back to African-American meet- ing planners and travel agents to make up for the business shortfall. The coming new year appears to be another one of those points in time when reaching out to Black travelers and conference attendees is perceived, at least by some, as a pri- ority. This time, however, the very real opportunity to forge a genuine partnership with the African- American market segment looms before us all. Some destinations, like Birmingham, Miami, Jackson, and many others to numerous to men- tion here, have understood this for years and long ago made a serious commitment to our market to treat African-Americans as equal partners in this industry. They have exhibited this not only through their investment in our market segment to invite African-American organizations and associations to meet in their cities, but also through their hiring practices that fully embrace the concept of diversity and inclusion. And when the going gets tough and budgets are cut, they may have to trim down their African-American marketing efforts slightly, but they don't follow the practice of far too many of their competitors in the industry by simply eliminat- ing this niche from their outreach plans altogether. Meeting planners, you are in a strong position to influ- ence what decisions many in our industry will make in the coming months. I urge you to do your homework, research the destinations, hotels, convention centers, airlines and other suppliers you contemplate doing business with in 2010 and beyond. And if in your honest assessment some- one on your short list of suppliers has not demonstrated ample respect for our community, valued our business and treated us as equal partners, then you should take your business elsewhere. Until more of you are at least as inter- ested in building wealth in our community as you are in get- ting the best possible deal for your organization, little will change for the better. Publisher's Message Solomon J. Herbert Publisher/Editor-In-Chief E-Mail: BMandTMag@aol.com Black Meetings & Tourism is published bi-monthly by SunGlo Enterprises, 20840 Chase St., Winnetka, CA 91306-1207 •Telephone: (818)709-0646/Fax: (818) 709-4753 Copyright 2009 by SunGlo Enterprises. All rights reserved. Single Copies, $6.00 Subscriptions $45.00. Postage Paid at Pasadena, CA. •Postmaster send address changes to Black Meetings & Tourism, 20840 Chase St., Winnetka, CA 91306-1207. Black Meetings & Tourism December 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 4