# where do Black Americans vacation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824 "2010-11-16T03:42:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![marieq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@marieq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marieq)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/1 "2010-11-16T03:42:51Z")
just really curious. we have gone on numerous cruise vacations, and have only seen a handfull of Black americans onboard, most are on carnival , maybe several dozen on the ships we were on. the higher ‘fancy’ ships, like Holland america etc, we saw none. we have also traveled to walt disney world. universal studios, sea world, disneyland. & have only seen handfulls there. on a recent Oprah show she mentioned that Blacks do NOT go camping either. so just where do they go on vacation? what are their interests? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/2 "2010-11-16T03:52:42Z")
Martha’s Vineyard. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/3 "2010-11-16T04:00:11Z")
Universal Studios. Six Flags. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/4 "2010-11-16T04:00:17Z")
Everyone knows that black folks can’t swim, so of course you wouldn’t see them on cruises. I believe they enjoy golfing and traveling to India. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/5 "2010-11-16T04:03:49Z")
The poverty rate of African Americans is something like three times that of whites, and the black population is a fifth of the size of the white population. So even if the black people that can afford it like taking cruises just as much as white people, the ratio of blacks to whites on cruises is going to be something like 1 to 19. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/6 "2010-11-16T04:03:58Z")
I just want to warn you that you are asking a loaded question. It sounds a little like “Where do negros take their afternoon break, I never see them at high tea?”. I will assume that you mean the best and I hope other people do the same because there is a legitimate question in there somewhere. Black people don’t just move around as a herd but I am sure you already knew that. It is true that there are certain things that you don’t usually see black Americans doing like camping, hiking, overseas vacations, or water sports either. That is firmly in the realm of [Stuff White People Like #128](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/08/14/128-camping/). Growing up in the South, most blacks didn’t go very far at all for vacations if they had any. They just spent it at home or went to visit family in nearby cities. That is the most typical answer. Family and church gatherings were the most popular event rather than destination travel. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/7 "2010-11-16T04:20:36Z")
I’ve spent most of my life around black, though I am white, and I know a lot of them do go to Disney World, but a lot of them have yearly or every other year “family reunions” So instead of going to New York, they’re going back to the Delta of Greenville or back to South Carolina, to spend the week off they have with their extended families. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/8 "2010-11-16T04:46:51Z")
[Moderating] I’m just going to remind everyone that we’re in GQ. As **Shagnasty** says, this can be perceived as a loaded question. Let’s try to provide factual answers here rather than just speculation. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![marieq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@marieq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marieq)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/9 "2010-11-16T05:04:09Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Moderating] > > I’m just going to remind everyone that we’re in GQ. As **Shagnasty** says, this can be perceived as a loaded question. Let’s try to provide factual answers here rather than just speculation. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator I was trying to ask it in a way not to offend anyone. I was just really curious! Disney recently made a black princess, & at least one black fairy. I had seen some tv interviews that said it was a great idea.. but thought there would be more visitors at disney.. gee thought maybe there were some great vacation spots the rest of us are missing out on! & its not a question of $$ either, we never see many other race/ethnic groups at say , an Irish festival or octoberfest either. or many plays etc. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/10 "2010-11-16T05:21:11Z")
> [@](#): > > & its not a question of $$ either, we never see many other race/ethnic groups at say , an Irish festival or octoberfest either. I think it should probably be pretty obvious why those events tend to be homogeneous. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/11 "2010-11-16T06:14:11Z")
> [@marieq](#): > > & its not a question of $$ either, we never see many other race/ethnic groups at say , an Irish festival or octoberfest either. or many plays etc. Heh. You just reminded me of the Irish festival where I grew up. They served GD Italian food since pretty much all of the town was Italian. McHaters. Anyway, I think the socioeconomic generalization made earlier contains an element of truth. It doesn’t apply to everyone, but is a reasonable demographic (partial) explanation. Thinking of my friends and colleagues are (or were black - meaning they’re no longer my colleagues, not that they’re no longer black 😃 ), one often trips to the Caribbean, one went to Sweden a lot (of course, he married a Swede), one usually burned his vacation time bringing his kid to football camps and football recruiting events, and several did family reuinions, as was previously mentioned. Perhaps it’s also fair to ask where white people go on vacation; being one of them, I can say that my last vacation was in 2003 (and, actually, sort of a vacation but it was for a wedding - just on a different continent). Since then, all of my vacations have been working trips (to some cool places, but it’s still working… exotic places still have boring conference rooms). ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/12 "2010-11-16T12:51:48Z")
Just observational data here. My perspective is middle-class, mixed-race, SE Michigan work environment. SE Michigan is well-known to be very highly self-segregated. Blacks in general don’t go “up north,” which is a common weekend activity for most of us. This includes activities such as going to the cabin, going camping, going RVing, going boating, going hunting, going snowmobiling, going canoeing, etc. I’ve only ever seen black people on canoe day trips on the Au Sable river. I travel extensively in Mexico. Because I have black coworkers, when they’re in Mexico, they tend to travel extensively in Mexico. Other than my coworkers, I think the only black tourists I’ve ever seen were a diplomatic delegation from some African county in Valle de Bravo (I asked where they were from, but I don’t remember). My father-in-law tells me he bought his beach house in a vacation spot from a black American. In Orlando (but I didn’t set foot into Disneyland proper) I saw quite a few black people. My black coworkers are always discussing family reunions, and going to South Carolina or Kentucky and likewise to attend. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/13 "2010-11-16T13:09:45Z")
We’ve run in to a lot of black Canadians at tropical resorts, like Antigua and Jamaica. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/14 "2010-11-16T13:32:15Z")
> [@marieq](#): > > & its not a question of $$ either Yes it is (at least in part), as **Simplicio** explained upthread. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/15 "2010-11-16T13:55:39Z")
> [@marieq](#): > > we have also traveled to walt disney world. universal studios, sea world, disneyland. & have only seen handfulls there. When you say handfuls, do you mean approx. 12.4%? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/16 "2010-11-16T14:03:25Z")
> [@marieq](#): > > just really curious. > > we have gone on numerous cruise vacations, and have only seen a handfull of Black americans onboard, most are on carnival , maybe several dozen on the ships we were on. the higher ‘fancy’ ships, like Holland america etc, we saw none. > we have also traveled to walt disney world. universal studios, sea world, disneyland. & have only seen handfulls there. > on a recent Oprah show she mentioned that Blacks do NOT go camping either. > > so just where do they go on vacation? what are their interests? Huh. I take a lot of cruises and there always seem to be plenty of African-Americans onboard. Did you know that Carnival, Princess and Holland America are all owned by the same company and the pricing on them really isn’t all that different …they are just reaching for different niches of the market. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/17 "2010-11-16T14:18:35Z")
This is a very odd OP, but I am reminded of an extremely relevant but not necessarily PC joke which I am compelled to relate: Q. Why don’t black people go on cruises? A. They’re not falling for _that_ one again. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/18 "2010-11-16T14:42:27Z")
All the black people I know mostly go to family reunions and such - they vacation to see family, not to go somewhere else. I just read an article about the Park Service trying hard to attract more black people to our national parks (both as visitors and as staff.) Evidently they go to national parks more infrequently than any other major group. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/19 "2010-11-16T15:08:08Z")
Curious what % of the people on the cruise or at DisneyWorld, does the OP expect to be black? Any amount over 12% would be unreasonable, based upon the current demographics of the US. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824/20 "2010-11-16T15:52:22Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > All the black people I know mostly go to family reunions and such - they vacation to see family, not to go somewhere else. I just read an article about the Park Service trying hard to attract more black people to our national parks (both as visitors and as staff.) Evidently they go to national parks more infrequently than any other major group. [OUR](http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/09/new_superitnendet_takes_the_re.html) National Park superintendent is black! 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-black-americans-vacation/560824.md?page=2)