Culture Is the Strategy. Language Is the Tactic. What a $4.1 Trillion Audience Means for Travel and Tourism.

A new study from iHeartMedia and Collage Group confirms what destination marketers are starting to feel in their quarterly numbers: Bicultural Latinos are not a niche segment. They are the growth engine of American travel — and the brands earning their loyalty are doing it with cultural intelligence, not translated copy.

Released in February 2026, iHeartMedia's New American Consumer: Bicultural Latinos study, conducted with Collage Group, quantifies something the travel industry has been undervaluing for a decade. Bicultural Latinos (Americans who identify as equally U.S. and Hispanic), now make up nearly 40% of all U.S. Latinos. U.S. Latino purchasing power has reached $4.1 trillion and is growing more than twice as fast as that of non-Latinos. If U.S. Latinos were an independent economy, their GDP would rank fifth in the world.

For destinations, hotels, airlines, and experience brands, that is not a diversity story. It is a growth story. And like every growth story in travel, the winners will be the ones who get to the audience before their competitors do.

At The Culturist Group, we call audiences like this one growth audiences — high-velocity, underserved consumer segments where cultural fluency creates disproportionate returns on marketing investment. Our entire practice is built around helping brands grow where they've yet to look. The iHeartMedia findings reinforce the playbook we've been running for destinations across the U.S. and Mexico.

Here is what the data confirms, and how we are already operationalizing it for clients.

Finding 1: Cultural Pride Is Rising, and It Is Driving Purchase Behavior

The study reports that 78% of Bicultural Latinos say they feel more connected to their heritage today than they did just one year ago. Two-thirds identify as equally Hispanic and American. And 60% are more likely to purchase from brands that reflect them — with 61% willing to pay more when they do.

That purchase premium is the single most important statistic in this study. Cultural connection is no longer a brand-affinity nice-to-have. It is a pricing lever.

This is the principle behind our 4R Framework™ — Representation, Relevance, Resonance, Reach. Representation alone is the floor. A brand that stops at representation has checked a box but earned nothing. The premium accrues to brands that move through all four Rs: showing up visibly, aligning with what actually matters to the audience, resonating emotionally, and reaching them in the channels where cultural conversation is already happening.

When we developed "Nos Vemos en Fort Worth" for Visit Fort Worth, representation was the starting point, not the strategy. The strategy was economic relevance — positioning Fort Worth as a destination where Latino business, heritage, and hospitality converge. That positioning is what helped the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce secure its successful bid to host the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's national conference. Cultural marketing produced a measurable economic outcome for the destination. That is the 4R Framework at work.

Finding 2: Language Is a Tactic, Not a Proxy for Identity

One of the most important correctives in the iHeartMedia study is how it reframes language. Nearly 90% of Bicultural Latinos consume audio content in English. Yet one in three prefer Spanish for music or radio, and 65% prefer listening equally in both. Language is a cultural connector — not the sole mode of communication, and certainly not a reliable shorthand for whether an audience is "Hispanic enough" to target.

Enrique Santos, President and Chief Creative Officer of iHeartLatino, summarized it in the study launch: "culture is the strategy — language is the tactic."

That single sentence invalidates the dominant multicultural marketing model of the last twenty years, which treated Spanish-language translation as the beginning and end of Latino outreach. Bicultural audiences move fluidly between English, Spanish, and Spanglish — and they expect the brands courting them to do the same, in ways that match the moment and the medium.

This is exactly the insight behind Visit Tucson's "Nuestra Cultura Grows Wild" campaign. We did not build that campaign around a language choice. We built it around a cultural proposition: that Tucson's identity is shaped by a living, evolving Mexican-American and Indigenous heritage that bicultural travelers recognize as authentic rather than performative. The creative moves between English and Spanish where it serves the story, not where it checks a demographic target box. CTV placements carry QR-coded attribution so we can tie cultural resonance to booking intent — proving that a culture-first campaign produces tracked economic outcomes, not just sentiment.

Finding 3: Audio Is a Cultural Ritual, Not Just a Channel

The study documents that 96% of Bicultural Latinos are looking for human-led content. Ninety-eight percent listen to music weekly, 63% tune into podcasts weekly, and 69% engage with live sports through audio. More than six in ten share their listening with others. Audio is communal, intimate, and deeply tied to identity.

Our MOSAEX™ multicultural media activation platform was architected on exactly this premise: that reach in growth audiences is not about scale in isolation — it is about scale inside the cultural spaces audiences already trust. That means activating across Spanish-language and bilingual radio, bicultural podcast networks, Latino creator communities, and culturally programmed CTV — not bolting a translated 30-second spot onto general-market media plans and calling it an investment.

Bicultural Latinos are 22% more likely than the general population to purchase after hearing a brand advertised on the radio. Destinations that still treat audio as a legacy medium are leaving measurable conversion on the table.

Finding 4: Curiosity Is the Behavior That Travel Brands Should Be Obsessed With

Seventy-three percent of Bicultural Latinos say they are open to trying new brands. Sixty-nine percent appreciate when brands show up during cultural moments. This is the most receptive, highest-intent audience profile in the U.S. consumer economy right now — and it is especially consequential for travel.

Travel is discretionary. Destination choice is emotional. A curious, culturally confident audience with growing purchasing power and rising heritage pride is precisely the audience most likely to book a flight to a place that sees them.

Our work with Jalisco, Mexico reflects this directly. Jalisco holds profound cultural significance for millions of U.S. Latinos whose families trace heritage to the region, and that diasporic connection is a uniquely powerful travel driver. The Bicultural Latino traveler is not choosing between domestic and international. They are choosing destinations that let them move between both identities at once — visiting family roots in Guadalajara, exploring Mexican-American cultural corridors in Fort Worth, experiencing Tucson's bicultural Southwest. Destinations that understand this continuity win category share.

What This Means for Destination Marketers in 2026

Three shifts to make now:

Move budget from translation to cultural strategy. Translating an existing brand campaign into Spanish is not a Latino marketing plan. Leading with cultural insight and letting language follow the medium is. The iHeartMedia data makes this structurally clear.

Measure cultural campaigns with economic KPIs. The 4R Framework ends in Reach for a reason. Cultural marketing should be held to the same conversion, booking, and visitor-spend standards as any other line item. The Nos Vemos en Fort Worth conference bid outcome and the Cultura Grows Wild CTV-to-QR attribution model are both examples of what that discipline looks like in practice.

Invest where cultural confidence is rising fastest. The 78% figure on heritage connection is not stable — it is a trend line. Brands that arrive during an ascending cultural moment compound loyalty. Brands that arrive after the moment pay a premium for attention they could have earned for free.

The Growth Audience Opportunity

We built The Culturist Group around a single conviction: the highest-return audiences in American marketing are the ones incumbents have underinvested in for the longest. The iHeartMedia study is not new information to us. It is validation of a thesis we have been operationalizing for clients across tourism, hospitality, and destination marketing for years.

Four-point-one trillion dollars in purchasing power. An audience growing more than twice as fast as the general market. A 60% lift in purchase likelihood when brands reflect them. These are not diversity metrics. They are growth metrics. And growth is what destination marketing organizations, tourism boards, and hospitality brands are accountable for delivering.

The brands that win the Bicultural Latino traveler in 2026 and 2027 will not be the ones who spend the most. They will be the ones who lead with culture, measure with rigor, and show up with credibility.

That is the work we do. That is where we help brands grow — where they've yet to look.

The Culturist Group is a multicultural marketing consultancy specializing in travel, tourism, and hospitality. Our proprietary 4R Framework™ and MOSAEX™ multicultural media activation platform help destinations and brands reach growth audiences with cultural intelligence and economic accountability.

To discuss how these findings apply to your destination or brand, contact us.

Study findings referenced throughout: iHeartMedia and Collage Group, "New American Consumer: Bicultural Latinos," February 2026.