Buying black: black meeting-goers are putting their dollars back into businesses.

African-Americans who supply goods and services to meetings and conventions are finally beginning to cash in on this $397 billion industry. Ten years ago, the black meetings market was largely overlooked by the mainstream travel, tourism and hospitality industry. All that changed with the threat of boycotts. Now it is estimated that African-Americans spend $30 billion a year in meetings, conventions and leisure travel. With this newly acknowledged economic clout, black meeting-goers are leveraging their power to recycle their dollars back into African-American businesses.

City and state governments are heeding the wake-up call and creating special services and tourism networks for minority businesses and travelers. These networks offer an alternative to the big, multilevel marketing operations of convention and visitor bureaus. These convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) usually have annual membership fees ranging from $300 to $800, which may prohibit small black businesses from participating.

Meanwhile, cities such as New Orleans, Atlanta, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Memphis and Washington are using tax dollars to set up minority tourism networks linking minority vendors with consumers.

"It's a win-win situation," says Roy jay, president and CEO of the Oregon Convention and Visitors Services Network in Portland. "We started a Minority Business Convention Scholarship that allows qualified businesses to join free for one year," says jay. "That gives small businesses a jump-start in the industry and allows us to showcase products not normally in the mainstream."

But as major cities, and some states, begin to target ethnic markets, officials such as Luwanda Jenkins, director of the Governor's Office of Minority Affairs in Maryland, say it's up to meeting planners and black organizations to find African-American vendors.

But how can black meeting planners and suppliers connect? Jenkins suggests that meeting planners make identifying and using black businesses a priority when negotiating with convention sales representatives.

"Let them know that you're looking to them for assistance," she suggests. "If you're not hearing what you want, inquire about an organized tourism network or a black chamber of commerce." Most cities also have an office of minority affairs that should be familiar with local suppliers, she notes.

Conversely, Roy Jay insists that small businesses do their homework. "Get involved in the industry. Floral arrangements, sound systems, ground transportation--these things are booked three to four years ahead--but you won't know about them if you're not involved in the industry," says Jay. "The African American Travel and Tourism Association and the National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners are two key organizations to be involved in," he adds. If there is no minority tourism network, weigh the financial costs against the potential benefit of being a member of the local CVB. "We are beginning to break the glass ceiling in this industry," says jay. "Still, the bottom line is that to do big business, African-American vendors will have to market themselves like big businesses do."