Understanding The Travel Patterns of Hispanic Leisure Travelers
Travel within the United States by Hispanics is on the rise, providing new opportunity for destination marketers seeking to grow visitor arrivals to their destinations.
Last week, Mandala Research unveiled its analysis of the Hispanic traveler, based on data secured through the 2010 Longwood’s TravelUSA survey. Mandala revealed that Hispanic leisure travelers represent a $56.4 billion market.
The key take-aways were clear: Hispanics are among this fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, they regularly travel with children to visit extended family and social media influences the segment’s decision making.
• Within this segment, travelers are highly motivated to visit friends and relatives who invite them. Since California, Texas and New York boast large Hispanic populations, these states are aptly positioned to encourage growth within the Hispanic market segment.
• Hispanic households are more likely than the general U.S. population to have children at home (51% Hispanic vs. 38% overall) and they are more likely to have children in the house under the age of 8 (42% Hispanic vs. 26% overall). This directly results in an increase in the average size of Hispanic travel parties when compared to the overall U.S. population (31% of Hispanic travelers have four or more travelers in their party, vs. 25% respectively.) With young children traveling within these parties, there is an increased focus on educational activities for children within vacation itineraries.
• Hispanics are more likely to use online resources to book their travel experience (46% book online vs. 41% overall population). They are also more avid users of smart phone, utilizing phones for researching accommodations, dining and activities more frequently than leisure travelers overall. Access to travel information via digital media is therefore an important element of planning and an extremely useful tool for reaching Hispanic travelers.
• A full 40% of Hispanic travelers use some form of social media. While Facebook is the primary social platform for exchanging ideas, surprisingly MySpace is still an influencer in 20% of the Hispanic population that uses social media. Destinations seeking to influence the Hispanic traveler will benefit from activity on both platforms.
By 2050, the Hispanic/Latino population is projected to total 102.6 million, comprising 24% of the U.S. population.
What innovative approach is your destination taking to capitalize on the future?
To purchase the full report on the Hispanic travel market, visit MandalaResearch.com.
