Date of Award
5-2006
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Program
Urban Studies
Department
School of Urban and Regional Studies
Major Professor
Chacko, Harsha
Second Advisor
Gladstone, David
Third Advisor
Nelson, Marla
Fourth Advisor
Whelan, Robert
Abstract
After the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the desegregation of public transportation and facilities and with the advancements that African Americans have gained in education, income, and employment, African Americans have greater access to travel opportunities. Today's African Americans travel in greater numbers than ever before and represent a dynamic and growing travel market segment that according to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) (2003) generated 75 million person trips in 2002. Although there have been several studies conducted on the differences between ethnic or racial groups with regard to their participation in outdoor recreation, research on differences between African American and White traveler behaviors in the urban tourism context is sparse. This study examined the differences between African American and White travelers who visited the city of New Orleans. Specifically, the study investigated demographic variables (income and gender) for their contribution to the differences between African American and White travelers in the modes of travel, activities participated in, sources of travel information, importance of destination activities, satisfaction with destination attributes, and spending patterns. Significant differences were found in modes of travel, activities participated in, sources of information, information of destination attributes findings (popular, African American Values, and sport and recreation), satisfaction with New Orleans on the destination attributes entertainment, African American Values, and spending. Although the findings of this study reflect the trip characteristics of travelers to New Orleans, future research should examine the applicability to other urban tourism destinations.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Kimberly, "A Comparison of Travel Behaviors of African American and White Travelers to an Urban Destination: The Case of New Orleans" (2006). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 432.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/432
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.