In April 2023, Stephanie Jones spoke at the Michigan Governor’s Tourism Conference. “I got on stage and said, ‘Look around us, you have no idea how tiring it is to show up and be the only black person in a room,'” she recalls . “There are 600 of you sitting on these seats; Which black people have you met besides the people who serve you and wait for you?
The few statistics available on the diversity of tourism executives in the United States show that less than 2% of hotel sector executives are black while the management staff of North American tourist offices remain 80% White. It doesn’t take much effort to notice the lack of Black executives in the rooms where decisions about U.S. travel are made, from destination marketing organizations to major travel associations that impact politics.
