DNA Testing Becomes a Heritage Tourism Hook for Black Travelers
Photo Credit: A woman takes a DNA test in a Momondo video that promotes heritage tourism. Momondo / Momondo
Skift Take
Recent advances in DNA testing have made the service more accurate and affordable, which opens up the heritage tourism market to black Americans like never before.
Recent technological advances in DNA testing, as well as an all-time low cost for the service, have made heritage tourism more accessible than ever for black Americans, and some travel brands are marketing accordingly.
Back in June, Momondo released a promotional video featuring young people from various countries who took a DNA test (provided by AncestryDNA), which led to many surprising and highly emotional discoveries. The video concluded by asking participants if they’d like to travel to the countries listed in their results, which was answered with a resounding “hell yeah.”
A Momondo spokesperson reported that in the days following the video's release, traffic to their website increased 43–45 percent.
This fall, Momondo also held a DNA Competition. Over 170,000 people entered for the chance to win a free DNA kit, and those who won a kit filmed themselves opening the results, from which a final winner was selected for a free trip to their ancestral homelands.
CN
