NTA president Lisa Simon with Express Travel president and task force leader, Olga M. Ramudo

NTA and the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) have announced a joint initiative aimed at educating members on how to better understand and service the U.S. Hispanic travel market.

The plan, revealed on Tuesday at the NTA Convention in Las Vegas, will see the two associations target one of the nation¡¯s fastest growing segments, estimated to reach US$1.3 trillion in purchasing power in the next three years.

Olga M. Ramudo, president of Express Travel, will lead the task force charged with spearheading the initiative.

Speaking to e-Travel Blackboard at the convention, Ms Ramudo said the Hispanic market was already one of the most thriving in the nation.

¡°Not only has it been forecast, that by 2020 one in every five Americans will be Hispanic, but it has been shown that this group has the largest discretionary income of any minority,¡± she stated.

¡°It¡¯s a market worth an estimated US$700 billion a year in purchasing power.

¡°It is a lucrative market, a loyal market, a growing market and one that we need to pay attention to.¡±

As well as educating members of NTA and ASTA on how to reach the Hispanic market, Ms Ramudo said the plan aimed to simply ¡°get more Hispanics traveling¡±.

¡°More Hispanics traveling in the United States will create more jobs in the United States,¡± the Miami-based Ramudo remarked.

The initiative kicks-off on January 25 with the ¡®Understanding the U.S. Hispanic Traveler¡¯ webinar, which aims to examine the travel behavior of Hispanic travelers and how travel professionals can best meet their needs.

¡°It¡¯s a different sale, they look for different things, so it¡¯s just about teaching the ASTA and NTA members how to reach out to this particular market,¡± she said.

¡°By educating NTA members on how to sell to the Hispanic, they can then market Latin America.

¡°They can create those tours that Hispanics are interested are in.