Our friend and fellow traveler currently residing here in Mérida, Mexico – Colby Holiday wrote up this article for our new platform PASS THE MIC: BIPOC VOICES and we couldn’t be any more happy about it. Colby is an amazing writer, blogger, content creator, role model and human. We are beyond excited to share with you her written piece about a new endeavor she has started with a group of fellow Black Travelers and Content Creators called Black Travel Alliance. Check out her article below and be sure to follow her and Black Travel Alliance.
Being Black in America is exhausting. However, being Black NOT in America, yet still witnessing your Black brothers and sisters being gunned down and killed in the streets and killed in their homes is a type of heaviness that cripples the soul. I may have escaped physically, but the emotional angst and incessant worrying about family and friends still there is a type of helplessness I can’t quite put into words.
The silver lining – we are living in revolutionary times, and we are making history. We are currently fighting two pandemics, COVID-19 and racism and the world will be changed for the better because of it.
Being the Change
When COVID-19 hit, myself and a few other travel content creators would meet up for a weekly Mastermind session. We talked about our goals, how to best navigate this new space we were in while still serving our respective audiences, and we simply provided a support system for one another. We became each other’s accountability partners. Then George Floyd was killed and the world had had enough. We’d had enough. Change was something long overdue and we determined to be that change in the travel space. We had our typical Friday meeting on June 5 and that day the Black Travel Alliance was formed. Within 24 hours we’d formed the alliance, decided on a launch campaign, created the shell of a website, drafted a Press Release and started our social channels. It is truly a powerful and incredible thing when collective minds come together for positive change.
The Driving Force
Black Travel Alliance was birthed from the idea of #BlackOutTuesday. There were so many travel brands and destinations showing their solidarity and support across social media; however, the Black representation, or lack thereof, within their companies, in their marketing campaigns and speakers at their conferences tells a different story. Black Lives Matter is more than a black square. It is not a trend that brands can use as performative activism, yet continue to turn a blind eye to their own shortcomings when it comes to racial inequalities.
We launched with our #PullUpForTravel campaign to challenge these companies to create action behind their words – starting with providing KPIs for Black representation in the areas of employment, conferences and tradeshows, paid advertising and marketing campaigns, press and philanthropic efforts. These metrics will be used to evaluate ways in which these brands can improve their Black representation, both internally and externally.
Alliance
It is our goal to not only work with these brands and destinations to end the systemic lack of diversity in the travel industry, but also to provide opportunities for fellow travel content creators in this space. We are bloggers, vloggers, videographers, journalists, podcasters, photographers and a myriad of other things and we are here to uplift, mentor and provide business support to other creatives.
Amplification
Black Americans alone spend over $60 billion on travel annually, yet our representation is diminutive. We want our stories to be told and our voices to be heard. We want to see our faces in marketing campaigns, because when people see people that look like them, they will be more apt to travel to those places. There’s all these misconceptions of things Black people don’t do – Black people don’t ski. Black people don’t surf. Black people don’t hike, or dive, or go spelunking, or….the list goes on and on. Brands and destinations perpetuate that narrative by only featuring a certain demographic of people in their ads and commercials. But, we’re here to change that narrative. We are here to amplify our voices and share our stories to create more inclusivity in the travel space.
Accountability
As previously mentioned, we are holding these brands accountable. You say you support Black lives, now it’s time to show us. Don’t tell us how you want to do better. Be better. We understand this is not something that will happen overnight; however, as one of my co-founders stated, “[you] Can’t improve what you refuse to state honestly.” Brands have to be honest with themselves and acknowledge where they may be dropping the ball. Once that happens, then we can work together collectively on improvement.
Read more about Black Travel Alliance and join our initiative here. See which of your favorite travel brands decided to #PullUpForTravel on our Instagram page.
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