Exploring Travel Interests and Constraints among Minnesota Hmong

As Minnesotans comprise about half of Minnesota’s travel market (Davidson Peterson, 2012), understanding this in-state population is important to attract and retain consumers and, subsequently, support communities and economies. As of 2015, tourist data primarily focuses on white, non-Hispanics. Other markets exist, however, and are growing in Minnesota and elsewhere. A rather unique Minnesota market is the Hmong, as the state has the second highest Hmong population in the United States. Research on other immigrant groups finds some challenges and opportunities related to leisure and leisure-related activities, such as travel. This report provides results from initial qualitative explorations of Hmong leisure travel behaviors. Given a self-reported propensity towards outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, Hmong are particularly important to consider in destination areas where the outdoors is a key attraction. Results will inform planning, marketing, and product development for Hmong tourists as a niche group both in the United States and Minnesota

Hmong Americans and Public Lands in Minnesota and Wisconsin

Natural resource managers and policy-makers need to understand the cultures and perspectives of ethnic minority communities in order to serve them effectively. In this exploratory study, we focus on Hmong Americans, perhaps the least-studied and -understood Asian ethnic group in the United States. The Hmong, who lived in the mountains of Laos,were relatively isolated until they were secretly recruited and armed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1960s to fight the communist Pathet Lao and their North Vietnamese allies (Warner 1998). When the Americans abruptly withdrew from Vietnam and Laos and the pro-American Royal Laotian government collapsed in 1975, the Hmong fled persecution and annihilation from the new communist regime. Laotian Hmong refugees came to the United States in the years following the war in Vietnam and Laos. The number of Hmong refugees grew rapidly in the late 1970s and reached a peak of about 27,000 admitted to the United States in 1980. The Hmong are now the third-largest Southeast Asian group in the U.S. after Vietnamese and Cambodian, with the largest Hmong populations in California (65,095), Minnesota (41,800) and Wisconsin (33,791) (HNDI and HCRC 2004). All other states have a combined total of only 28,742 Hmong