DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND EQUALITY
210 | Black-Owned Hotels: NABHOOD opens doors to opportunity
DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND EQUALITY
African American travel is a $63 billion industry.
That’s how much black leisure travelers generated for the U.S. travel and tourism economy in 2018, reports Mandala Research.
The December report is a follow-up to Mandala Research’s 2010 study on the same topic. The new information shows a $25 billion increase in travel spend by African Americans in the U.S. in less than a decade.
The researcher surveyed 1,700 African Americans and learned the majority travel for cultural enrichment, including heritage tours.
African Americans also frequently travel to attend family reunions in destination markets.
Understanding the dynamic of this travel demographic is key for those whose goal is to recruit more African Americans to invest in the U.S. hospitality industry, a $2.5 trillion sector.
Spotlighting business and career opportunities in the hotel industry is the sole focus of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners Operators and Developers or NABHOOD.
Lodging Leaders talks with Andy Ingraham, founder, president and CEO of NABHOOD about their upcoming conference, as well as the association’s goal to grow the level of investment by African Americans in the hospitality industry.
Resources and Links
- Andy Ingraham on LinkedIn
- For information about NABHOOD and its upcoming conference July 24-26 in Miami, click here.
- For information about the International Multicultural & Heritage Tourism Network and its summit that immediately follows NABHOOD’s event in Miami, click here.
- In addition, the Latino Hotel Association’s convention takes place earlier that week in Miami. For information, click here.
DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND EQUALITY
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317 | Together Again: U.S. hotel industry begins to see return of small meetings
Ginny Morrison of Evanston, Illinois, is a 33-year veteran of Spire Hospitality, a hotel management company with a portfolio that spans coast-to-coast. As vice president of sales and marketing, Morrison saw the coronavirus pandemic decimate the meetings business. More than a year later, she’s witnessing a comeback as small-meeting planners are actively booking events for the last half of 2021 and beyond. As public health agencies expand COVID-19 vaccination programs across the U.S. and states ease up on public-gathering restrictions designed to keep the virus at bay, the hotel industry is seeing small meetings begin a comeback. In Episode 317, Long Live Lodging covers the state of the small-meetings sector and how hotels can grab their share of the meetings business during and post-pandemic. This report is part of our ongoing coverage about the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the hospitality industry.
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316 | Pandemic Trailblazer: Hunter Hotel Investment Conference leads lodging industry’s 2021 event circuit
The Hunter Hotel Investment Conference will be the industry’s first large event to be held during the coronavirus pandemic. The Atlanta event will be a hybrid format of in-person and virtual access, also an industry first. Lee Hunter, chairman of the conference, knows the level of expectation is high among other conference planners as well as industry professionals eager to network after more than a yearlong hiatus. Episode 316 of Lodging Leaders podcast features Hunter as he tells what it takes to re-launch the industry’s conference circuit amid the COVID-19 outbreak.