The American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA), the only national organization dedicated to advancing cultural tourism in Native Nations and communities across the United States, celebrates 25 years as the leader in indigenous tourism. Travel serves as a catalyst for a productive U.S. economy and helps power the success of other industries. American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian owned hospitality businesses contribute $14 billion in annual sales to the tourism and hospitality sector in the U.S., according to the Economic Impact of U.S. Indigenous Tourism Businesses Report.
Indigenous people have been advocating for missing and murdered Indigenous peoples for generations. But it’s only within the last few years have state and national officials started to pay attention. Indigenous women face murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. And the National Institute of Justice found that 84% of Indigenous women experience violence in their lifetime, compared to 71% of white women. Homicide has been reported as the fourth-leading cause of death among Indigenous women under 19 and the sixth-leading cause of death for ages 20 to 44, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
