Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/999395
According to the U.S Travel Association, today the travel industry generates $2.4 trillion in econom- ic output and supports 15.6 million American jobs nationally. It is estimated that the African-American segment is valued as a $56+ billion annual market. Yet the question remains: HOW MANY of those dollars go back into the Black community? For over 25 years Black Meetings & Tourism has tracked and reported on the BUSINESS of travel, as it relates to the African American mar- ket and clearly we can say without hesitation, very few of the billions of dollars Black people spend every year on travel are invested in Black businesses or used as leverage to create employ- ment opportunities for Black communities. The best figures to be found indicate that less than 2% of every dollar spent by African- American travelers i returned to their communities. B M & T ••• May/June 2018 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 14 While the historic GREEN BOOK was primarily seen as a life-saving guide to provide Black travelers with resources needed to guarantee their safety and comfort, it was MUCH more than that. In addition to listings for lodging, food and gasoline, these annual guides, featured black-owned businesses and serv- ices from hair salons to dentist offices. These little green books were treasures for African-American com- merce, creating a unique system for employment opportunities and economic empowerment that brought study streams of revenue into African-American communities throughout the country. As a part of her Green Book research project, writer, photographer and cultural critic Candacy Taylor has cataloged nearly 9,000 Green Book COMMERICAL listings, scouted over 3,200 Green Book sites in 48 US states, and photographed over 150 Green Book properties. She discovered that less than one- third of those sites are still standing and fewer than 5% are still in operation. (Many of them are refer- enced or featured in The NEW GREEN BOOK). be found indicate that less than 2% of every of every of dollar every dollar every spent by African- by African- by Thankfully, that is about to change. Introducing The NEW GREEN BOOK, a mobile app and digital directory, going beyond the Freedom of Travel to the Freedom of Choice, urging People of Color to CHOOSE to make their dollars count by directing their busi- ness to those companies that embrace and support DIVERSITY and INCLUSION in the Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry. This convenient electronic GUIDE will undoubtedly become the ESSENTIAL travel tool for the vast majority of Black Travelers, as they characteristically go where they are: Invited, Welcomed and Valued. The NEW GREEN BOOK African-American Travel Guide, is an engaging, colorful, interactive, information-packed electronic directory and mobile app that will serve as a guide for African-American travelers. It will feature those destinations, venues and attrac- tions that have demonstrated their appreciation of the African-American market through their commitment to diversity and inclusion in hiring practices, advertising, sponsorships and promotions, and community involvement. Included will be contact information for: best American app urging ness Travel, undoubtedly as interactive, guide tions their and • State Departments of Tourism • International Tourist Boards • Select Lodging Properties • Destination Convention, Visitors and Travel Bureaus • Black Owned & Other HOTELS and BED & BREAKFAST Locations • African-American & Black Chambers of Commerce & Business Associations • Facilities for Meetings, Conferences, Reunions & Conventions • African-American Heritage and Historic Sites & Venues • Finding an African-American TRAVEL AGENT and/or TOUR OPERATOR • African-American cultural festivals & events • Places of worship • Transportation services CANDACY TAYLOR Credit Katrina Parks, Assertion Films The civil rights laws of the mid 1960s served to eliminate the necessity for African-American travelers to depend on The GREEN BOOK or other such guides for protective purposes. Still some traditional travel patterns of Black travelers remain prevalent today. For example, African-Americans are three times more likely to travel in groups than their general market counterparts. They are also more likely to travel to destinations and venues based on the recommendations of other Black travelers. s