New York, NY September 2007 -- A report about minority travelers from the Travel Industry Association of America found a significant increase in travel by African-American, Hispanic-and Asian-Americans. In 2002, for example, minority travelers generated approximately 18 percent of all person-trips taken in the U.S., and generated 19 percent of domestic travel expenditures, or about $90 billion.

The online travel business is the best home based business for minorities. It is one of the lowest costs of any franchised business and an opportunity to enter the billion dollar travel industry." All that is needed is a computer, an initial fee of $500 plus $49 per month and the minority entrepreneur will have his/her own full fledged travel website that is comparable to Travelocity, Orbitz and all the major online travel sites." This is a real business and with proper marketing the minority entrepreneur can have a successful home based business with great potential for above average income.

Minorities have the cultural glue of language, food, music and country origination that binds them. Moreover, minorities tend to have a larger extended family and in large metropolitan areas thus they are likely to travel frequently because their family and friends reside somewhere else.

Minorities have business loyalty to their respective communities and culture. Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline are faceless unfamiliar entities, whereas the minority online travel business owner most likely shares the same cultural identity with the potential client and sometimes language barriers make it easier for the potential client to do business with the minority online business owner. Minorities, more than the majority, tend to do business with people they know or with whom that share the same culture or ethnicity.

The beauty of the online travel business is that if the business does not flourish as expected the minority online business owner still receives the travel industry courtesies, discounted prices and tax savings of being self employed. He or she can potentially make every vacation a tax write off.

MINORITY TRAVEL SNAPSHOT
Minority travel volume is up 4 percent from 2000 to 2002 (increasing from 72.2 million to 75.2 million person-trips), higher than the two percent increase for travelers overall during the same time period. A majority of African-American person-trips are for leisure (74%), most often to visit friends or relatives (44%). One in five (22%) African-American person- trips are taken for business, including combined business and pleasure purposes. Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia are the most popular Southern destinations. Virginia and Texas are also popular destinations. Group tours are popular among African- Americans. Compared to travelers overall, nearly three times as many African-American person-trips involve group tours (10% vs. 3%). African-American households spend $428 per trip, on average, excluding spending on transportation to their destination. (Source: The Minority Traveler, 2003 Edition)

Asian-American travel volume has grown 10 percent from 2000 to 2002, increasing from 30.0 million to 33.1 million person-trips. Leisure travel accounts for 77 percent of all travel taken by Asian-Americans, and like other U.S. travelers they visit friends and relatives most often (40%), followed by entertainment (18%) and outdoor recreation (8%). Business travel, including travel for a combination of business and pleasure purposes, accounts for one in five (21%) person-trips taken by this group. Compared to travelers overall, Asian-Americans travel to California, Nevada, and Hawaii much more often. Asian- American households spend $515 per trip, on average, excluding spending on transportation to their destination, more than the average household trip spending in the U.S. ($457). This group has a much higher tendency to include shopping as trip activity compared to total U.S. travelers (39% of person-trips vs. 34%). (Source: The Minority Traveler, 2003 Edition) Hispanic travel volume is up 20 percent from 2000 to 2002 (increasing from 64.1 million to 77.1 million person-trips), much higher than the two percent growth of travelers overall. A majority of Hispanic person-trips are for leisure (77%), of which visiting friends or relatives is the ultimate goal for many (43%). Entertainment trips (16%) and outdoor recreation (8%) make up smaller shares of Hispanic person-trips. The states that attract the greatest number of Hispanic travelers include California, Texas and Florida. Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico are also popular destinations. Hispanic households spend an average of $480 on a trip, excluding spending on transportation to their destination. One third (33%) of trips by Hispanic households include children under 18 years old, significantly higher than for overall traveling households in the U.S. (24%). (Source: The Minority Traveler, 2003 Edition)

TRAVEL AND THE INTERNET
The Internet and online services are very popular with travelers. Travelers tend to be quite computer savvy, with two thirds (65%) of the 98.3 million travelers who are online-63.8 million-using the Internet to make travel plans in 2004. Among online frequent travelers, 70 percent use the Internet for travel planning. Use of the Internet to actually book travel continues to increase, with 45 percent of all travelers now online having made travel reservations on the Internet during the past year. That translates to 44.6 million online travel bookers, up six percent over 2003. The majority (83%) of online bookers are using the Internet to do at least half of all their travel booking. The number of online bookers doing all of their travel booking online continues to grow, with 40 percent now doing so, versus 29 percent in 2003. Interestingly, 82 percent of online travel bookers say they bought airline tickets for a trip taken in the past year, 67 percent booked overnight lodging accommodations, and 40 percent made rental car reservations. (Source: Travelers Use of the Internet, 2004 Edition)

For more information on minority travel and about a cost effective online travel business visit The Minority Home Based Business Report at http://theminorityhomebasedbusinessreport.com.