Latinos Perked Up The Economy With Holiday Spending

By Michael Lopez

You're welcome, President Obama. Despite ongoing forecasts of economic doom and gloom, statistics are now showing that holiday spending was up this past December. Thanks, in part, to the hard earned cash from the Latino community.

According to the latest Gallup survey, 2011 saw a 4.1 percent rise in holiday spending. And though most of those dollars probably weren't given to Sears or Kmart (who are on the brink of bankruptcy), Hispanic-owned businesses did see a major spike in revenue.

New statistics show that businesses owned by Latinos have earned nearly $350 billion in the past five years. That's quite an impressive figure, especially when you consider that most Hispanic companies are not very large and family-owned. And boy are they growing! Forbes reports that more than 20 percent of all businesses in New Mexico, Florida, and Texas are now owned by Latinos.

And let's not forget that the Hispanic population is contributing quite a lot into the general economy too, particularly in the tech department. This holiday season, Zpryme Research and Consulting concluded that Latinos spent over $5 billion on mobile devices.

They claim that one out of every four Hispanics dropped at least $250 on gadgets, with tablets and smartphones ranking highest on the list. Spanish tech websites, like TuTecnologia have been popping up left and right, advising shoppers on the gizmos that deliver the best bang for the buck.

"Many Hispanics see tablets and smartphones as a gateway to the technology world that not so long ago was held captive by expensive entry-level desktops and laptops," TuTecnologia founder Ariel Coro explained. "This is a similar phenomenon to the one seen a couple of years ago with netbooks. Nowadays, tablets are more convenient, portable, affordable and even easier to use."

With that in mind, you can plan on seeing a lot more Apple commercials in español in the near future. More and more advertising agencies are picking up on the Hispanic spending trends and courting corporate name clients like Microsoft and Sony for Spanish campaigns.

Perhaps it's time to start patenting the ¡Ay Pad!

What did you spend on this holiday season? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Blogger: Michael Lopez, Cultura, Gallup, Holidays, iPad, iPhone, Technology, TuTecnologia