The Black Travel Movement is a socioentrepreneurial phenomenon that pursues social change by developing travel-related businesses that encourage Black people to travel. [1] [2] [3] [4] The movement emerged in the 2010s, but in the United States its historical roots go back to The Negro Motorist Green Book and to historically Black resorts. [5] [6]
According to researchers Alana Dillette and Stefanie Benjamin, the movement developed in response to "underrepresentation of Black people in the travel sphere" and is informed by critical race theory. [1] Yes! magazine in 2021 said the movement was "exploding" in size and influence. [7]
Affluent Black people in the United States first commonly travelled for leisure in the late 1800s via rail and steamship. [1] Those who travelled abroad often commented on the relative sense of freedom they felt when outside of the United States. [1]
Starting in the early 1900s, resorts were created throughout the U.S. to cater to Black travellers who were unable to travel to other resorts because of segregation or racist policies. [7] Resorts included Idlewild, American Beach, Bethune Beach, Oak Bluffs, Bruce's Beach, Lincoln Hills, Pacific Beach Club, Paradise Park, and several subdivisions near Sag Harbor. [7]
The invention of the automobile further increased opportunities for affluent Black Americans to travel, as it removed obstacles of segregation on railroad cars, but travel by car also increased the risk of inadvertently stopping at segregated lodging and dining establishments or driving through a sundown town. [1] In 1936 The Negro Motorist Green Book was created to address this danger. [1]
The travel and tourism industry traditionally was marketed exclusively using images of white travelers. [1] According to Dillette and Benjamin, as of 2018 the industry continued to primarily depict white travelers in images. [1] The lack of depictions of people of color, except when seen in service roles, contributes to real and perceived ideas that Black people do not travel. [1] [3]
In 2011 the first Black Travel Movement company, Nomadness, was created by Evita Robinson with the goal of connecting Black people with travel opportunities that had not been previously marketed to Black travelers. [1] As of 2022 Dillette and Benjamin counted 20 such companies, referring them as "social entrepreneurships" because the typical organizational goal, in addition to profit, is effecting social change within the travel sphere. [1]
In the late 2010s, Jessica Nabongo and Woni Spotts both claimed to be the first Black woman to visit every country in the world; the dispute caused "rumblings" within the movement, according to Essence, with some in the movement "attempt[ing] to pit the two women against each other". [8] [9]
Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms are broadly interchangeable, nudism emphasizes the practice of nudity, whereas naturism highlights an attitude favoring harmony with nature and respect for the environment, into which that practice is integrated. That said, naturists come from a range of philosophical and cultural backgrounds; there is no single naturist ideology.
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be domestic or international, and international tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments.
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States. The campaign lasted from December 5, 1955—the Monday after Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, was arrested for her refusal to surrender her seat to a white person—to December 20, 1956, when the federal ruling Browder v. Gayle took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws that segregated buses were unconstitutional.
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel can also include relatively short stays between successive movements, as in the case of tourism.
Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combination of discriminatory local laws, intimidation or violence. The term came from signs posted that "colored people" had to leave town by sundown.
Port Edward is a small resort town situated on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It lies north of the Mtamvuna Gorge which includes the Mtamvuna River and is the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. It is situated on the R61 road between Port Shepstone and Lusikisiki.
Tourism geography is the study of travel and tourism, as an industry and as a social and cultural activity. Tourism geography covers a wide range of interests including the environmental impact of tourism, the geographies of tourism and leisure economies, answering tourism industry and management concerns and the sociology of tourism and locations of tourism.
Sustainable tourism is a concept that covers the complete tourism experience, including concern for economic, social and environmental issues as well as attention to improving tourists' experiences and addressing the needs of host communities. Sustainable tourism should embrace concerns for environmental protection, social equity, and the quality of life, cultural diversity, and a dynamic, viable economy delivering jobs and prosperity for all. It has its roots in sustainable development and there can be some confusion as to what "sustainable tourism" means. There is now broad consensus that tourism should be sustainable. In fact, all forms of tourism have the potential to be sustainable if planned, developed and managed properly. Tourist development organizations are promoting sustainable tourism practices in order to mitigate negative effects caused by the growing impact of tourism, for example its environmental impacts.
Racial segregation in the United States is the systematic separation of facilities and services such as housing, healthcare, education, employment, and transportation on racial grounds. The term is mainly used in reference to the legally or socially enforced separation of African Americans from whites, but it is also used in reference to the separation of other ethnic minorities from majority and mainstream communities. While mainly referring to the physical separation and provision of separate facilities, it can also refer to other manifestations such as prohibitions against interracial marriage, and the separation of roles within an institution. Notably, in the United States Armed Forces up until 1948, black units were typically separated from white units but were still led by white officers.
Idlewild is an unincorporated community in Yates Township, located just east of Baldwin in southeast Lake County, a rural part of northwestern lower Michigan. During the first half of the 20th century, it was one of the few resorts in the country where African-Americans were allowed to vacation and purchase property, before discrimination was outlawed in 1964 through the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The surrounding area is within Manistee National Forest. The community encompasses Lake Idlewild, and the headwaters of the Pere Marquette River extends throughout the region.
Accessible tourism is the ongoing endeavor to ensure tourist destinations, products, and services are accessible to all people, regardless of their physical or intellectual limitations, disabilities or age. It encompasses publicly and privately owned and operated tourist locations. The goal of accessible tourism is to create inclusivity of all including those traveling with children, people with disabilities, as well as seniors. This allows those with access requirements to be able to function as an independent using products following the universal design principle, a variety of services, and different environments.
Tourism in Costa Rica has been one of the fastest growing economic sectors of the country and by 1995 became the largest foreign exchange earner. Since 1999, tourism has earned more foreign exchange than bananas, pineapples and coffee exports combined. The tourism boom began in 1987, with the number of visitors up from 329,000 in 1988, through 1.03 million in 1999, over 2 million in 2008, to a historical record of 2.66 million foreign visitors in 2015. In 2012, tourism contributed with 12.5% of the country's GDP and it was responsible for 11.7% of direct and indirect employment. In 2009, tourism attracted 17% of foreign direct investment inflows, and 13% in average between 2000 and 2009. In 2010, the tourism industry was responsible for 21.2% of foreign exchange generated by all exports. According to a 2007 report by ECLAC, tourism contributed to a reduction in poverty of 3% in the country.
Alana Kathryn Dillette is an academic and Olympic swimmer from The Bahamas.
Victor Hugo Green was an American postal employee and travel writer from Harlem, New York City, best known for developing and writing what became known as The Green Book, a travel guide for African Americans in the United States. During the time the book was published, choices of lodging, restaurants and even gas stations were limited for black people in many places, both in the South and outside it. It was first published as The Negro Motorist Green Book and later as The Negro Travelers' Green Book. The books were published from 1936 to 1966. Green reviewed hotels and restaurants that did business with African Americans during the time of Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the United States. He printed 15,000 copies each year.
The Negro Motorist Green Book was an annual guidebook for African American roadtrippers. It was originated and published by African American New York City mailman Victor Hugo Green from 1936 to 1966, during the era of Jim Crow laws, when open and often legally prescribed discrimination against African Americans especially and other non-whites was widespread. Although pervasive racial discrimination and poverty limited black car ownership, the emerging African American middle class bought automobiles as soon as they could, but faced a variety of dangers and inconveniences along the road, from refusal of food and lodging to arbitrary arrest. In response, Green wrote his guide to services and places relatively friendly to African Americans, eventually expanding its coverage from the New York area to much of North America, as well as founding a travel agency.
International volunteering is when volunteers contribute their time to work for organisations or causes outside their respective home countries. International volunteering has a long association with international development, with the aim of bringing benefits to host communities.
The Coronado Lodge, at 2130 Lake Ave. in Pueblo, Colorado, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
Beachgoing or beach tourism is the cultural phenomenon of travelling to an ocean beach for leisure or vacation.
Woni Spotts is an American woman who completed visiting every country and continent in the world in 2018. According to media studies scholar Tori Omega Arthur, consensus had developed after 2019 that Spotts was the first Black woman to do so.