Instead of the usual gathering at Uncle Alfred`s house in Baltimore over the 4th of July weekend, three generations of the Boles family, 34 in all, celebrated their sixth annual family reunion on a weeklong cruise of the Caribbean aboard the Cunard Countess.
Last February, 3,500 members of the National Brotherhood of Skiers, a black organization, gathered in Steamboat Springs, Colo., for a four-day summit meeting.
This past Memorial Day weekend, Black Pack, a national group of 40 black campers, pitched tents and spent three days hiking and fishing on Cape Cod.
A growing market of black travelers-a $25 billion industry by some estimates-has spawned a variety of organizations, ranging from travel agencies and tour operators to travel clubs, to serve blacks who want to share their vacations and leisure activities with other blacks.
Although vacation planning for most Americans revolves around such basics as where to go, where to stay, how to get there and what it will cost, many blacks consider one other factor: whether they will be the only blacks there. Groups like the Brotherhood of Skiers, which has more than 9,000 members nationwide, Black Pack and Chocolate Singles FSO International, a New York-based travel and leisure club for black singles, are providing alternatives or new outlets for blacks who want to make sure they have ”cultural kin” on their vacation.
A sociological perspective
”This wasn`t started with separatism in mind,” said Derrick Jackson, of Black Pack.
”My wife, Michelle, and I found camping and hiking to be a neat activity, but we seldom saw any black faces. We felt that if we could introduce some of our like-minded friends to this, they would enjoy it. The issue isn`t let`s get blacks together, but sharing something you love and enjoy with your own people.”
While many blacks say they no longer feel uncomfortable about moving in predominantly white circles at work or in their communities, the thought of being on vacation alone among white strangers, in an unfamiliar city, town or resort, even for a short period, can make travel plans less exciting, even disquieting.
”Our lives are quite integrated from 9 to 5; after that people go their separate ways,” said Joyce Ladner, a professor of sociology at Howard University in Washington.
”What is taking place in terms of vacation preferences is a metaphor on our lives. There is a lot of integration in the workplace, but there has not been much social integration.”
The bifurcation of travel patterns along racial lines has raised questions about whether the gains of the 1960s civil rights and black power struggles have actually bridged social and economic gaps that existed between the races.
”The civil rights revolution has made a tremendous difference in how we live and in other areas of our lives, but there is still a lot that remains to be done,” said Richard P. Nathan, a former professor of public and international affairs at Princeton University who is now provost of the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs at the State University of New York at Albany.
Nathan was on the staff of the Kerner Commission, which concluded 21 years ago that the nation was moving toward ”two societies, one black, one white.”
”When people are on vacation, they want to be in the most relaxed state possible and don`t want any stress,” said Ladner, who has studied many interracial issues. ”So you tend to associate with those you see as your cultural kin. It would be incorrect, however, to say that this is something that is unique to blacks. Whites still go to the same places they always went.”
If anything, Ladner noted, blacks today are going on more integrated vacations, traveling more than ever before with white friends or colleagues or to predominantly white areas.
Upwardly mobile
Jake Henderson Jr., co-owner with his wife, Freddye, of Henderson Travel in Atlanta, said black travel patterns have changed significantly in the 34 years he had been in the business.
”There really was no black travel pattern in 1965,” he said. ”Now, we`re seeing blacks of all economic statuses traveling. We`re seeing an increase in the numbers of blacks taking cruises. Most Americans, blacks included, are taking shorter trips-weekend or four-day trips.
”By and large, when blacks travel, it often coincides with a common interest or cultural interest. This excludes convention or business travel.” But while the civil rights laws of the 1960s eliminated segregation, prejudice still exists and Jim Crow fears still linger, underscoring what many blacks say is a need to be among their own people.
”Face it,” Ladner said. ”When you go on a vacation, paying your own money, you don`t want a bad hotel room, bad food or a bad experience. That applies to anybody, regardless of color.”
Various sources of help
Bob Hayes wrote of the concern in ”The Black American Travel Guide,”
published in 1971 by Straight Arrow Books. ”The guide alleviates destination facility hazards: it minimizes the problems of deciding where to go and of worrying about what`s going to happen when you get there.”
But the book has not been updated since 1973 and many blacks say they must turn to neighbors or friends to find popular ”black spots” in their travels.
The National Association of Black and Minority Chambers of Commerce in Oakland has established a special toll-free telephone number for such information (1-800-228-0675; it will go into full operation in October).
The number has more than 9,000 listings of places, like restaurants, clubs and hotels, that are either black-owned or attract blacks. Among the listings are the Apollo Theater in Harlem; X`s Cocktail Lounge, a restaurant in New Orleans; the Howard Inn in Washington, a hotel owned by Howard University; and the Gingerbread House, a black-owned restaurant in Oakland.
Market studies by the Inter America Travel Agents Society, an association of black travel agents, the Chambers of Commerce group and other organizations show the black travel market to be the fastest-growing segment of the tourism industry in the United States.
They noted that while the U.S. tourism industry has been slow to respond to the needs and concerns of blacks, other countries are aggressively pursuing black travelers, particularly in the Caribbean and Africa.
Last year, the governments of the Bahamas and the French-speaking island of Martinique hired two New York-based advertising agencies to refine and intensify efforts to attract black travelers.
”Black travelers are estimated to be a $60 million to $70 million market to the Bahamas,” said Flo McAfee, director of public relations for Caroline Jones Advertising Inc., the firm hired by the government of the Bahamas.
”Our research reveals that the minority market is a $30 billion market and growing every day,” said Oscar J. Coffey, president of the national chambers association and the Oakland Minority Tourism Authority.
Saving countries
”The industry is aware that the black market can make a difference,”
said Jessica Harris, a travel writer who is on the faculty of Queens College. ”We represent the margin of profit in a number of countries.”
”We left $3 million in Steamboat Springs, Colo., last February,” said Ron Blackman, director of communications for the National Brotherhood of Skiers. ”Ten years ago, we were struggling trying to find a place to hold our convention. Now the ski resorts are knocking down our doors.”
”More and more, these figures are coming to the attention of governors and mayors,” David L. Edgell, director of the Office of Policy and Planning of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration, wrote last year in Business America, a publication of the Department of Commerce.
”But what is not yet recognized and understood is that blacks and other minorities account for over $25 billion of the $260 billion in business receipts generated by tourism in 1986.”
Last month, a group representing more than 21 states and 6 countries met in New York City for the first National Black Tourism Conference. Out of that gathering, the National Black Tourism and Convention Association was formed.
The association, whose 244 members include travel agents, convention and tourism bureaus, hotels, airlines and automobile rental companies, plans to update travel information on popular black tourist attractions, identify black travel patterns and habits and assist in the growth and development of minority businesses in the travel, convention and tourism industry, said Lloyd Williams, president of the Uptown Chamber of Commerce in Harlem, who is a founding member of the new association.
Some blacks view the new travel patterns as a healthy development.
”I think more and more blacks are starting to realize that our tax dollars pay for those national parks and campsites and they`re beginning to go to these places, even if they have to drag friends with them,” said Jackson of Black Pack.
We are family
Yet some blacks doubt that a more accommodating industry will dramatically change what are primarily personal preferences.
”I know that I`ll see other blacks there whenever I go,” said Dr. Kent Washington, a dentist from Washington who rents a summer home on Hilton Head Island. ”Even if I don`t see other blacks, I always invite family members or friends down. My family`s from South Carolina, so I never have to worry about being the only one and how I`m going to be treated.”
And for the three generations of the Boles family, a Caribbean cruise might have been less fulfilling if they had traveled individually.
”We`re so scattered over the country, it`s hard to get together,” said Arthur Mohead. ”I don`t know if I would have taken a cruise on my own, so I came up with the idea of a cruise to celebrate this year`s family reunion. We`ll be talking about this years from now.” –
