Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 19, 1995 TAG: 9502210033
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: G-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALAN SOLOMON CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
My grandparents and parents sought fresh air and a break from business and, in an age when anti-Semitism was often implied and too-often codified, they sought the comfort of being with people very much like themselves.
Today, Jews ski.
Today, blacks ski.
In fact, the National Brotherhood of Skiers, an organization of blacks, will have its annual outing at Steamboat Springs, Colo., this year.
The group is based in that hotbed of snow skiing - Atlanta.
Yes, the world of traveling the world is changing, and has been for a while now. For black Americans - as for all Americans - access to the splendors and surprises of the United States and the wonders beyond, to hints of the past and promises of the future, is limited today only by time, our imaginations and - regrettably for all us dreamers - what we can afford.
``With the upscale African-American traveler,'' said Carol Henley, formerly with United Airlines and now a consultant with Le'na Travel, a black-owned and operated agency on Chicago's South Side, ``I see absolutely no difference in his travel destinations.''
As we celebrate ``Black History Month,'' there are about 31 million blacks in this country. More than ever, they have money to spend. More than ever, they have places to go.
Invitations are everywhere, from city and state tourist boards that fashion handsome ``African American Heritage Guides'' to islands and cruise lines with ads that send a message with their purposeful mix of models.
A study published in 1993 (the latest available) by the Travel Industry Association of America found that 61 percent of blacks in the United States took at least one trip of 100 miles or more (one way) from home the previous year; more than half of those travelers ventured at least 500 miles from home.
(A key finding, same report: Less than 1 percent of the black travelers interviewed for the study mentioned either racial discrimination or miscommunication as serious problems facing travelers today.)
About one-third of those trips were to the south Atlantic region, from Delaware down the coast to Florida (compared to 21 percent of the overall population), many of those trips to visit relatives.
But even when there are no family and friends involved, Henley said, repeat visits in general are popular - back to the same Caribbean islands, back to Las Vegas, particularly among travelers not quite so upscale.
``I have been at my friend's agency for about 10 months now,'' Henley said. ``I have received one, and only one, request to Denmark.
``I did finally talk a small group into doing Europe, but couldn't get them any farther than London and Paris. Perhaps we as a people think we're going to run into racism in a country that's not our own.''
The nastiest barrier has nothing to do with race.
Gary Crowley is a travel planner with Allpoints Travel Managers, another Chicago agency.
``One fella came to me with $700 and wanted a week in Hawaii, including air and all meals,'' Crowley said. He laughed at the memory. ``I thought he was asleep. Out of Chicago. And he was serious.''
In the best of times, $700 hardly covers the cost of fare alone - but the plus-side is the guy wanted to go at all. Today, travel professionals say, rising numbers of black Americans are going out and seeing things once cut off to them not only by lack of cash but for reasons of racial comfort - theirs or their hosts', real or merely anticipated.
Top vacation destination?
``The Caribbean,'' Crowley said, ``is No. 1. It's not a lot of money. You've got the beaches, you've got all the activities you need, and you don't have to stay on a plane forever and a day.''
The Travel Industry Association study found that 44 percent of black leisure travelers headed for oceans or beaches.
``Then [after the Caribbean], you go to Mexico,'' Crowley said. ``With the peso devaluating, the best bang for your money is Mexico.''
Skiing in Colorado and, yes, Utah, is getting hotter. ``More and more,'' said Crowley. There is, too, Las Vegas. Vegas - where the only relevant color is green - is big, Dixon said, especially for couples. Henley said interest is high in West Africa.
And cruises.
``They're asking for the Caribbean,'' Dixon said, particularly the three- and four-day cruises. ``Caribbean cruises, No. 1,'' Crowley said, ``and then you go to the Mexican cruises.''
``It wasn't that many years ago,'' Henley said, ``that we didn't even cruise.''
For those on more modest budgets, and particularly for families, there are exciting alternatives at home, and travel planners say family tourism within the United States by black Americans is one of the industry's major growth areas.
``Basically,'' said Crowley, ``Disney World and the larger attractions within the United States.'' Natural attractions, of course - and historic attractions.
And within that, a special category.
J.D. Appling is owner of the Travel Scene, a tour agency in Birmingham, Ala. His specialty: black American heritage tours, primarily to and through the South - an industry that has burgeoned in recent years, he said.
``The South is the up-and-coming place,'' Appling said. ``We are doing very well here in the state of Alabama. Mississippi is very high on the list, and Georgia.
``People now want to know the real history. History in the past has been fogged by lies, if you will. But now the real story's coming out, because it's not `black' history. It's just history.''
For those who want to combine heritage with comfort, Appling offers a nine-day cruise, New York to Nassau with stops at historic U.S. ports along the way, at prices starting at $1,598 per person, including round-trip air. That's one extreme.
More affordable and more popular are guided bus tours, perfect for groups - and church-group travel, long popular in the black community, has taken big-time to the heritage routes, say the travel pros.
On the least expensive end, and the most personal way to share this kind of experience as a family: self-guided heritage tours.
A call or note to nearly any state or city tourist board will bring, in return and without cost, either a publication detailing a black heritage tour or enough solid information to create your own. The increased demand reported by those tour boards reflects the growing appeal.
Attractions are just about everywhere.
But the South, especially, is loaded with history relating to the black experience, both grim and triumphant, from pre-Civil War through the Vietnam era. Most every state tourist board in the old Confederacy (exceptions: Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana - though New Orleans has its own) offers some sort of detailed literature specifically identifying sites of special interest to black Americans. Mississippi's, in particular, is a beauty.
Boston, full of historical riches for everyone, has a 11/2-mile ``Black Heritage Trail'' (Crispus Attucks, a Boston Massacre victim, is buried in Boston Common, and the city was a hotbed of abolitionism in the 1850s) ... Harlem, home of the Apollo Theater and so much more, has its own travel guide ... Illinois' lively booklet is a virtual primer on racial history and attitudes over 200-plus years ... A call to Jacksonville, Fla., will bring information on local sites that include well-preserved Kingsley Plantation ... Ontario, in Canada, has a brochure titled ``An African-American Heritage Tour: The Canadian Black Experience,'' highlighting stops on the Underground Railroad - much of it in Chatham-Kent County across the border from Detroit (which has a brochure of its own).
by CNB