Nearly all present-day travel advisors at one time faced a steep learning curve when, as relative novices, they sought to successfully navigate the leisure travel business.

Yet even as Black travelers increasingly assert their vacation buying power (spending $109.4 billion on travel in pre-pandemic 2019, according to MMGY Global report), Black travel advisors say they are frequently challenged to uncover experienced mentors who looked like them.

Even as leisure travel flourishes among Black consumers, people of color remain under-represented in leadership positions at travel supplier and agency networks.

The void led Veranda Adkins and Shawnta Harrison to form the Association of Black Travel Professionals (ABTP), a retail travel network dedicated to the “development, growth and certification of Black travel professionals,” said Adkins and Harrison, both experienced travel sellers.

The disconnect that Adkins, ABTP’s president, and Harrison, its CEO, experienced wasn’t limited to absent Black representation in leadership roles at travel suppliers and retail networks.

In fact, the initial spark that led to ABTP’s formation began in 2020 with what seemed to Adkins and Harrison to be a wildly inappropriate conference lineup.

“At that time there were all of these things going on,” she said, in reference to the George Floyd murder and subsequent nationwide protests. “Then we saw a reference to an ‘African American’ travel conference, and when we looked at the leadership, it was all White.”

Adkins and Harrison, who met through a Facebook group in 2017, had earlier discussed forming a group for Black advisors, but Adkins said she was reluctant. Not so after seeing the conference information.

“I was like, ‘Hey Shawnta, you told me we need to do this, so we're going do it together. Let’s start this association.’ So that's how we spent the COVID [period] when people weren't traveling. We were working on starting this organization.”

For Harrison, the challenge was to locate experienced supplier business development managers or agency network colleagues from whom to learn. For whatever reason, Harrison struggled to be noticed in the early days of her travel career.

“I know how I felt when I came into the industry as a new agent,” she said. “[People] made you feel out of place. I was in advisor groups on Facebook and whenever I asked questions, even though I was affiliated, I wasn’t getting certain information,” Harrison said. “It seemed like some people just kept it to themselves.”

“When I connected with Veranda, she was literally was the only person that responded to a question had in one of the groups,” Harrison said. “I knew from there that we were on to something, and as a result, it led us to where we are today.”

Core Curriculum

ABTP provides training, networking opportunities and advocates for equal opportunities designed to “raise the profile and talent base within the Black travel community.” ABTP offers its members a customized training platform and “integrated networking opportunities” that expose members to “all aspects of the travel industry.”

ABTP maintains partnerships with leading cruise lines, resort companies, airlines and destinations and hosts seminars and workshops throughout the year. ABTP’s Annual Travel Conference and Tradeshow is scheduled for November 30 to December 3, 2023, in Las Vegas.

The group has quickly gained traction among travel sellers. One ABTP member, Brittany Shuford, was named one of the "Five Future Leaders to Watch” by TravelPulse's sister publication TravelAge West.

From the outset, Adkins and Harrison positioned ABTP as a means for Black advisors to attain greater professional recognition. But the group also exists to lobby travel companies to speak directly to an increasingly diverse clientele.

“I once went on a fam trip and came back home super-excited about the resort,” said Harrison. I came back home and asked the business development manager (BDM) for some images of people that look like me,” she recalled.

“He shared them with me but told me that I couldn't publish them because the marketing team didn't ‘want those images to get out,’” Harrison said. “I'm like, ‘Wait, you have images of people of color, but you don't want me to share them?”

Those are the types of scenarios ABTP is also seeking to address, she said.

“It’s important for us to be together because a strong message needs to be sent that we all have to trust each other,” said Brenda O’Neale, owner of With This Ring Destination Wedding Travel and an ABTP Advisory Board member.

Travel advisors “have to learn to trust each other with the knowledge that we have,” O’Neale said. “There’s nothing wrong with multi-level marketing but invest your time to become that true travel advisor.”

By operating professionally, Black travel advisors can create trust with clients “even if we do not share the same skin color,” said O’Neale. At the same time, African Americans “spend billions on travel each year and we're valuable and we deserve a voice.”

“I think one of the most important things about ABTP is our members and experiences themselves,” said Adkins. “To be able to have that knowledge to share it with their travelers when we come back. It‘s so much explain when you've done it.”