Embracing and Elevating Diversity in Travel

Travel advisors play a critical role in furthering inclusion in the travel industry. Here’s how to get started.

Pandemic inequalities and the global protests spurred by George Floyd’s murder have changed everything—including how we approach diversity, equity and inclusion within travel.

“This is the first-class line,” the airport staffer told Kerwin McKenzie, implying that he was in the wrong queue for check-in. He wasn’t.

McKenzie is a self-described “aviation geek” turned travel expert and blogger, who has worked in the travel industry and traveled extensively since 1994. During this trip in 2019, he was flying to New York, one of many trips he planned to make that year; he also had trips planned to Modena, Italy, and Berlin. He clocks about 200,000 miles every year and has frequent flyer status on several airlines.

But because he is a Black man, McKenzie stands out and is sometimes treated differently from other travelers.

“People have a perception of us,” says McKenzie, who also writes the travel blog Passrider. “So, whenever I travel, I realize that by default, I’m the ambassador. I could have gone off on her, right? But had I done that people would be like, ‘No, there’s a Black guy yelling at some white lady. And I was like, That’s not the image that I want. My treating her better than she treated me allowed her to kind of realize that she was wrong and even want to apologize. My hope was that [the airport employee] wouldn’t do that to the next person.”

Situations like these occur frequently, putting stress on travelers from historically marginalized communities. Sometimes these incidents are offensive but relatively benign-- a person confuses you with a hotel employee; another snaps unsolicited photos of you because you stand out.

Others are more serious. Many Black women travelers to Europe have written about being confused for sex workers, causing them to feel less safe. CNN reported that, during the pandemic, Asian travelers have experienced everything from racist comments on flights to physical assault. And one in three LGBT travelers feels they are “treated differently due to their sexuality when on holiday,” according to a 2017 report by the World Tourism Organization. (Being LGBTQ+ is still stigmatized in many countries—and criminalized in 71, according to Human Dignity Trust).

Still, people from all of these communities do travel, and make up a sizable share of the global travel market. Making sure these travelers are fully accepted requires greater awareness of diverse travelers’ unique challenges and preferences and more allies within the travel industry.

Inclusion Starts with Education: Resources for Travel Advisors

Following the racial reckoning spurred by global protests following the murder of George Floyd, the Black Travel Alliance spearheaded #PullUpForTravel, a social media campaign to improve accountability around diversity that piggybacked on the Pull Up For Change initiative. This year, the group conducted a survey of Black travelers in partnership with research firm MMGY.

The report (available for purchase here) reveals that a majority of Black travelers chose destinations based on perceived safety and are more likely to visit destinations if they see Black people in marketing materials. Popular domestic destinations in the United States were Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia and California. Internationally, Black travelers were most likely to visit the Bahamas, Jamaica, Sydney, London, and Paris.

Additional findings challenge dated ideas that many people still have about how Black people travel and how much they spend.

”For the longest time, the perception was that Black people just drive everywhere, which is not necessarily the case,” says McKenzie.

Another stereotype is that Black people (and Latinos, according to Latino travel expert Vanessa Fondeur-Adams) don’t spend on travel and don’t do luxury. In 2019, Black travelers spent nearly $110 billion, about 13% of total U.S. leisure spending. “We do do luxury,” says McKenzie. “But just like everybody else, we want to get a good deal.”

Everything from media portrayals to historical erasure perpetuates harmful stereotypes that, despite our best intentions, create unconscious bias and make us treat people differently. That’s why it’s so important for travel advisors to educate themselves about their own implicit bias and pay attention to the people making the travel industry more inclusive through resources and education:

• The International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, established in 1983, is a network of LGBTQ+ friendly travel service providers that offers trip-planning advice and destination guides for LGBTQ+ travelers.
• Latinas Who Travel and Latino World Travelers are building Latino representation within travel and creating community around curated, culturally responsive travel experiences.
• The Black Travel Alliance is a Travel + Leisure award-winning nonprofit that amplifies Black travel content creators and holds the industry accountable to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals (McKenzie is a board member).
• There are many BIPOC travel writers and educators who provide unique insights into the problematic aspects of travel and how we can all do better when it comes to equity and inclusion. Bani Amor focuses on decolonizing travel and shares resources via their Instagram page. Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World by Dr. Anu Taranath explores equity and mindfulness in travel. Goodreads has a list of travel narratives written by people of color. Also, check out Esquire’s list of books about the Asian-American experience and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s anti-racism reading list.

Non-Inclusive Marketing is a Missed Opportunity

Diverse travelers represent a sizeable market share: Research shows Asian-Americans outspend the typical U.S. traveler, and Hispanics “are clearly outpacing” the number of vacations their non-Hispanic white counterparts take. LGBTQ+ travelers alone comprise a $211B global travel market.

Still, diverse clientele isn’t a focus of many DMOs and travel advisors. “When I go to conferences, I look at the brochures and you have to just walk down the aisles—very few people are marketing to Black people,” says McKenzie. “It's changing somewhat... but they're not quite there.”

Other experts agree that travel media and destination marketers tend to alienate people by mainly featuring able-bodied, white travelers and heterosexual couples. “The travel industry has constantly ignored the Black travel market and that is to their detriment,” Paula Franklin, co-founder of the communications firm Franklin Bailey, told The New York Times in June 2020. “I don’t think the exclusion has been intentional, but it is pervasive.”

Fondeur-Adams, who founded the bi-lingual Latino World Travelers community to help other Latinos find travel inspiration, deals, and destinations, also believes the lack of representation in advertising sends the wrong message to marginalized groups.

“I'm feeling like we don't belong in spaces because we’re not being featured. They’re not marketing to us,” says Fondeur-Adams. “If they don't put a picture of [someone like] me going to the Maldives, how am I supposed to think, ‘Wow, I could actually imagine myself going to the Maldives’?”

Worse than not including people of color is portraying them in harmful ways, such as depicting locals as “exotic” curiosities who are there to serve white visitors. This is especially problematic when marketing destinations such as the Caribbean that have histories of colonialism and enslavement.

“When these hotels [in tropical locations] are showing somebody of color in a tuxedo serving a white person, it goes back to colonialism days,” says McKenzie, who is originally from Jamaica, which was a British colony until 1962. “You don't need that in your brochure to sell what you’re selling. You can [just] say, ‘We have butler service.”

Putting in the Work: How Advisors Can Better Serve Diverse Clients

It’s time for DMOs, service providers and travel advisors to lean into content that is respectful, resonates with an increasingly diverse clientele, and informs them about local amenities and activities they might enjoy. But adding that kind of value may take some work.

First, travel professionals need to start advertising diverse cultural heritage and history when promoting recommended destinations. “If you don't know [what’s appropriate], go find a Black person and ask them because they will tell you,” says McKenzie.

Second, advisors should look to existing resources (familiarization trips, connections with DMOS, chambers of commerce and local experts are good places to start) to find out about Black-owned businesses and cultural heritage sites that might otherwise get overlooked.  “Say, ‘I would love to tell my Black clients what they can do when they’re here, which neighborhood is good, which neighborhood is comfortable and things like that’,” advises McKenzie.

Third, advisors should use social media to follow travel brands and influencers, such as the Black Travel Alliance and Latino World Travelers, that can help broaden their perspective and plan better trips for clients.

Fourth, advisors should make it a habit to understand and accommodate clients’ cultural norms. For example, Latino travelers often travel with family and prioritize trips to their countries of origin, says Fondeur-Adams. She also recommends having bilingual information and a Spanish speaker at your travel agency.

Finally and importantly, McKenzie wants to see more people in the travel industry step up as allies.

“We need allies, regardless of your color,” says McKenzie. “If you see something wrong happening to your fellow human, then, you know, you should try to do something about it.”

To that end, travel advisors should be ready to contact service providers on behalf of clients to address problematic treatment—like assuming a traveler’s status based on their skin color. “They will put you through to the manager,” something they might not do for your client, notes McKenzie, whose background includes customer service.

This isn’t just the right thing to do; it also makes good business sense.

“It’s going to bring more clientele, because once they have a good experience with one client, that client is going to refer people,” says Fondeur-Adams, noting that Latinos, in particular, are extremely brand loyal. “It’s just opening yourself up to a whole new network. By embracing us, you learn about us, and in return, we share you with our community.”

Originally appeared in the summer 2021 issue of The Compass Magazine.