4 October 2023
By Brian Major | TravelPulse (TNS)
The Miami-based Black Travel Summit is launching a National Black Travel Day celebration on Nov. 11 as “a day for Black travelers and travel professionals to celebrate” diversity and culture in travel, said Anita Francois, the organization’s CEO and founder.
“We’re thrilled about this new call-to-action to recognize the importance of the global Black diaspora and culture in travel,” Francois said.
Francois selected Nov. 11 for National Black Travel Day to honor the birth date of Jamaican-American pilot Barrington Irving Jr., who in 2007 became the first Black person to fly around the world solo.
She described National Black Travel Day as “an homage to the Black travel movement [and] a reminder for allies, supporters, [and] the community that diversity in travel isn’t a trend that ends, it’s necessary for a brighter future for all who travel.”
National Black Travel Day will kick off with a private launch event at the Red Rooster Overtown restaurant in Miami’s historically Black Overtown neighborhood, which has previously hosted Black American icons including Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Ella Fitzgerald.
National Black Travel Day will follow the organization’s 2023 Black Travel Summit, scheduled for Oct. 20-22 at Miami’s Hyatt Centric Brickell hotel. The program will feature speakers including “top Black travel leaders and tastemakers, workshops, professional development sessions, networking and bond-building activities,” according to the group.
The 4-year-old Black Travel Summit has organized more than 40 virtual and in-person events and collaborated with nearly 200 speakers, partners and sponsors on initiatives aimed at “supporting, empowering, and fostering opportunities within the Black travel community, said Francois.
She intends to have National Black Travel Day “instill pride in Black travel professionals and travelers and encourage the continued growth of this market.”
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