Black Travel Alliance (BTA) has announced another significant achievement for the organization with its investment of $175,000 to support Black creators through scholarships and brand partnerships, since its inception in 2020. The announcement highlights BTA’s impact on the Black creator community, besides the progress it has made to realize its mission of amplifying Black voices globally by advocating for representation within the travel industry, while driving accountability with collective solutions.
Since its inception in 2020, the organization has made strides through numerous educational touch points and networking events for Black creators; partnerships that provide research and data specifically for Black travelers; and campaigns and call to actions that that have disrupted the status quo. In addition to monetary investments, BTA has also provided several opportunities for Black travel content creators, including networking events and training centered on SEO, pitching and brand building, among others.
Black Travel Alliance has worked with market research firms or other organizations to conduct thorough consumer or historical research on Black travelers, DMOs and travel brands. Two notable studies include “The Black Traveler Study” and the “History of Black Travel.”
“The Black Traveler Study,” developed in partnership with MMGY Global and published in two phases (November 2020 and January 2021), provides insight into the leisure and meeting segments of the U.S. Black travel economy as well as the decision-making process for vacation planning and uncovers the barriers and experiences that Black leisure travelers encounter across international markets. “History of Black Travel,” developed in partnership with Tourism RESET and published in July 2021, is a website with a timeline of 130-plus entries from the Americas, focusing mostly on the U.S. It provides insight into the early Black travel explorers and ground-breakers, major migration movements, and leisure travel developments of those from the African diaspora. It also includes major judicial and legislative events as well as cultural events that have inspired Black travel.
BTA was formed in June 2020 with the launch of its #PullUpForTravel campaign. The campaign called on destinations and travel brands to take #BlackOutTuesday support beyond social media and move towards meaningful representation of Black voices in the travel industry. This was done through the Black Travel Scorecard, which evaluated KPIs in areas including employment, conferences and trade shows, paid advertising, press and philanthropy. In response to survey findings which revealed that there is a lack of diversity within the travel industry, BTA began providing free consultation services to help brands and destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to ensure their messaging is inclusive. As a result, the organization has seen an increase in Black representation among the destinations and travel brands which took part, as seen in a published report.
In Q2 2023, BTA will launch tiered membership. This new initiative will provide immense value to members, including consulting opportunities, dedicated email campaigns, “Creators Weekend” host privileges and attendance at Wavelength—a networking event that connects Black travel professionals with travel brands to build partnerships. Membership tiers for creators will have introductory rates ranging from $0-$70, and will include professional development webinars and workshops, discounted merchandise and conferences, as well as access to an exclusive BTA forum.
Three-day, interactive mini conferences dubbed “Creators Weekend,” will be held throughout the summer and fall of 2023, offering content creators the opportunity to hone their skills in photography, creative writing, filming, editing and creating industry-ready content. “Creators Weekend” will be hosted in partnership with destinations and travel brands, a mutually beneficial partnership allowing these organizations to reach and engage Black communities both online and offline.
For more information, visit www.blacktravelalliance.org.
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