Hurtigruten Group gathered together a stellar group of travel professionals from the tourism, outdoor and adventure industries to amplify visibility and inclusivity of Black travelers within the realm of expedition cruising. Six travel experts joined Hurtigruten in the creation of the Black Traveler Advisory Board, and launched the new initiative from Antarctica while participating on a cruise onboard Hurtigruten Expeditions’ first battery-hybrid ship, the MS Roald Amundsen.
The chair of the new BTAB board is Stephanie M. Jones, MBA, the founder and CEO of the Cultural Heritage Economic Alliance, Inc. and the founder of Black Cultural Heritage Tours and the National Blacks in Travel & Tourism Collaborative. Regarding her inspiration for joining BTAB, Jones said, “Having the opportunity to use my voice and thought leadership [to] help guide a global company’s DEI transformation with potential future impact for the cruise industry at large attracted me to serve on the Black Travel Advisory Board. It is my hope that the advisory board will be able to assist Hurtigruten in developing its long-term DEI strategy that addresses BIPOC hiring, minority supplier contracting and Black traveler outreach from which best practices are formulated through implementation of DEI strategies that can be used to develop a tool kit for the cruise industry to model.”
Headed up by Anders Lindström, Hurtigruten Group’s head of PR and communications for the Americas, BTAB adds to the ongoing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs initiated by Hurtigruten to increase the visibility of Black travelers and travel professionals within the cruise industry, while also enhancing the company’s outreach to, engagement with and product positioning for the Black traveler.
“There are three misconceptions,” added BTAB member Kareem George, “that I particularly look forward to addressing: one, that Black travelers are not interested in adventure and expedition travel; two, that Black travelers are not interested in expedition cruising; and three, that Black travelers are not willing to make the financial investment in adventure/expedition travel and cruising.”
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