The Tourism Network organised the “£Million Markets You Can’t Afford to Ignore” Conference in London in 2003. The conference considered ways of targeting markets that are often neglected. As part of the planning for the conference, we interviewed people from different ethnic minority backgrounds, trying to answer some of the questions which many people find difficult to ask but which they frequently would like ask. Here are some of the questions and collated responses. Questions: How do you feel being referred to as coming from "an ethnic minority background"? People try to be politically correct by using such terms but are they not more discriminatory? Do you feel that too many people/groups are "lumped" together under such an umbrella? Typical/collated response: I suppose from a practical perspective it is necessary to have some term that encompasses all of Britain’s non indigenous population. Therefore the concept of being referred to as an ethnic minority is both reasonable and acceptable when attempting to make a distinction between those of foreign origins. However, it must be remembered in many parts of England especially within London, black and Asian people are not the minority community. There is an additional problem in that the term “ethnic minority” makes no distinction between the different sub groups that exist. This is an important distinction to make – just because an Asian or Afro-Caribbean’s skin colour is not white, it doesn’t mean these two people are alike. There are many different attitudes and experiences which exist within the subgroups. For instance, certain minority groups are bound together by religion whereas others are bound together by shared experience. It can make a difference whether some-one is a 1 st, 2 nd or 3 rd generation immigrant to this country. Many 2 nd and 3 rd generation immigrants may have the same buying behaviour, attitudes and believes as those from a non ethnic minority background. |
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