Top cities for Hispanic, Black travelers

[Guest donaltopablo]

Minority travel surpasses overall U.S. rate

The top three cities for Hispanic travelers are Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Antonio. For blacks, they're Atlanta, Orlando and Washington.

BY DALE K. DuPONT

[email protected]

The number of minority travelers increased at a faster rate than overall U.S. travel in recent years, a study by the Travel Industry Association of America found.

Hispanic travel volume rose 20 percent from 2000 to 2002, Asian-American volume was up 10 percent, and African-American numbers were up 4 percent, according to The Minority Traveler report released Tuesday. U.S. travel in general grew 2 percent over the same period.

''This is one of the big, emerging markets in the travel and tourism industry,'' said TIA spokeswoman Cathy Keefe. The report -- TIA's third on the minority market -- is designed to show where opportunities for growth are, she said.

Minority travelers in 2002 accounted for $90 billion of the total $462 billion in total domestic spending on travel.

The growth in many ways tracks U.S. population changes, TIA noted. And many travel patterns are the same. But TIA found that minority travelers are more likely than the average traveler to rent a car, attend cultural events or festivals, participate in nightlife activities and gamble as a form of recreation.

Keefe said car rental rates may be higher because many of the travelers live in cities where they don't need a car.

Among the findings:

[Allan]

Interesting article. I'm not really all that surprised by the results of the survey though.