Inside the Minds of Today’s Travelers with Danny Guerrero and Esra Calvert

April 3, 2024

“The future of travel is now.”

Danny Guerrero believes the ascendant multicultural majority in the United States will fundamentally change the travel landscape… and that the change has already begun. A tourism marketing expert, Danny joins this episode of the podcast with his research collaborator Esra Calvert to share results of an innovative new study showing what these new travelers want from their tourism partners.

Danny and Esra explain how multicultural travelers are claiming their place in the travel landscape and looking for trustworthy tourism brands that make them feel welcome. Plus, we have news about the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and a Road Tip about dealing with chronic complainers in your travel group.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS

Insights from Danny Guerrero and Esra Calvert

On the ascendant multicultural majority:

“100% of the growth in the last 10 years was all multicultural. As marketers, we’re looking at who is the traveling audience and who is going to be the future of travel.

“The future of travel is now. In the past five years, there has been an amazing awaking in multicultural groups to the power of travel. They’re no longer seeing travel as something they can’t do. And there’s an amazing amount of affinity groups taking to travel as a means of empowerment. They see travel as a way to explore themselves, to grow out of any limitations they may have. And it’s really a badge of honor.” — Danny Guerrero

On why travelers seek trust:

“75% of the stories included sadness. [People are looking for] personal, psychological safety. How do we create that so that consumers feel more welcome?

“Consumers know we don’t live in a perfect world. But they’re looking to brands to find solutions and bring context to it.” — Esra Calvert

On how tour operators can make people feel welcome:

“Tour operators need to know that the consumer is changing a bit. Generationally, you see in a lot of millennials a need to frequent brands and places that promote diversity and authenticity, and support local communities…. Don’t be afraid to lean into the margins when telling the story of a place. Not everything has to be hyper-luxury and hand-held. That notion is a thing of the past, where you’ve guarded travelers so much to give a travel experience that was a little bit polished and a little bit sterile. People are ready to hear the stories of marginalized folks. They want to travel and see authentic stories.” — Danny Guerrero

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Download the Future of Travel report at sharemorestories.com/fot23.

Contact Danny Guerrero at danny@culturistgroup.com.

Contact Esra Calvert at esra@esracalvert.com.

Key Moments From This Episode

1:22 — Travel News: Notre Dame Cathedral reopening plan

2:40 — Road Tip: Dealing with chronic complainers

12:24 — How Danny Guerrero and Esra Calvert became tourism analytics experts

13:50 — The importance of understanding multicultural backgrounds

16:09 — Using storytelling and AI to understand emerging travel buyers

21:14 — Why multicultural customers are the future of travel

25:45 — What today’s travel buyers are thinking about

28:48 — The importance of trust and belonging in modern tourism marketing

34:40 — How tour operators can win the hearts and minds of multicultural customers

Thanks to our sponsor Visit Atlantic City for making this episode possible. Learn more about Atlantic City’s travel experiences for groups at visitatlanticcity.com.

About the Podcast

Gather and Go with Brian Jewell is a tourism industry podcast that helps group travel leaders plan, promote and lead better trips. There are also tips and insights for destination marketers and others who support the tourism trade. Each episode reaches thousands of professional tour operators, travel agents and the volunteer group leaders they serve. The audience also includes destination museum leaders, church travel leaders and other tourism enthusiasts around the world. Each show includes an interview with a smart travel pro or an insightful person from outside tourism who’s expertise can help make travel businesses better. You’ll also hear travel news, road tips and more. New episodes are released about twice monthly.

You can find Gather and Go wherever your listen to podcasts or subscribe by email.

Have questions, comments or ideas for the show? Send them to us at podcast@grouptravelleader.com.

Thanks for listening!