| Gay tourism is a form of niche tourism marketed to gays who have an openly gay lifestyle and who wish to travel to gay travel destinations in order to
participate to some extent in the gay life of the destination area. As an industry it has some substantial maturity, and includes
such gay tourism specialists as travel agents, tour companies,
cruise lines and travel advertising and promotions companies who market these destinations to gays.
Major companies in the travel industry have become aware of the substantial money (also known as "pink money") generated by
this marketing niche, and have made it a point to align themselves with the gay community and gay tourism campaigns. According to Tourism Intelligence International (2000), some 10% of
international tourists were gay or lesbians, accounting for more than 70 million arrivals worldwide. This important market
segment is expected to continue to grow as a result of a change in world-wide attitudes to homosexuality. American gay and
lesbian tourists are estimated to generate $54.1 bn a year— about 10% of the total US travel industry.
Gay travel destinations
Gay travel destinations are popular among gays because they tend to be gay-friendly, usually have permissive or liberal
attitudes towards gays, feature a prominent gay infrastructure (bars, businesses, restaurants, hotels, nightlife, entertainment,
media, organisations, etc.)— these being often gay-owned and/or managed, the opportunity to socialize with other gays, and
the feeling that one can relax safely among other gay people.
Gay travel destinations are often large cities, although not exclusively, and often coincide with the existence of gay neighborhoods. These municipalities and their tourism bureaus often work actively
to develop their reputations as places for gays to travel to, commonly by aligning themselves to local gay organisations. Travel
analysts state that the existence of a core gay friendly population is often the primary catalyst for the development of a
gay-friendly tourist destination.
When gay tourism is exclusively or primarily for the purpose of having sex it shares many of the same attributes as sex tourism.
Gay tourism might also coincide with special gay events such as annual gay
pride parades, gay neighborhood festivals and such gay community
gatherings as gay chorus festivals and
concerts, gay square dancing conventions, gay sports meets such
as Gay Games, World Outgames or Eurogames and conferences of
national and international gay organisations. Gay tourism blossoms during these peak periods.
The US market is regarded as being the most important source of gay and lesbian tourists, followed by the European market as
the next most important.
List of gay travel destinations
The following destinations have proven to be popular over the course of time. They are listed below along with with some
noteworthy gay statistics that impact their desirability as gay travel destinations.
With expanding efforts to woo savvy gay travellers many areas are trying to catch the attention of this market and promote
themselves as gay-friendly. Regions throughout the world from the KwaZulu-Natal (http://www.kzn.org.za/kzn/investors/186.xml) to the Dominican
Republic (http://www.santo-domingo-gay-tourism.com/) to Nepal (http://www.gaywired.com/avantgo/storydetail.cfm?Section=16&ID=5313) are putting their
pinkest faces forward in the hope of expanding their tourism sector.
- Australia
- Cape Town: Estimated that 70 000 gay and lesbian foreign tourists visited
Cape Town in 2001.
- Europe
- Amsterdam: Gay Games host 1998.
- Barcelona
- Berlin
- Cologne: Site of the 2005 International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association
(IGLTA) annual convention.
- Copenhagen
- Gran Canaria: The town of Playa del Inglés is especially
popular with gays from northern Europe (England, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland) and from Spain. Gaylife
is centered around the Yumbo Centrum shopping center with many gay bars and night spots. Gay beach near the Dunes of Maspalomas.
- Ibiza
- London
- Munich
- Mykonos
- Paris: Site of gay village Le
Marais.
- Sitges
- Mexico
- Cancun: Holds annuals Cancun International Gay Festival in May.
- United States
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Austin, Texas
- Boston, Massachusetts: Site of gay village Jamaica Plain.
- Chicago, Illinois: Site of gay village Boystown. Large gay pride parade in June, and Halsted Street Market
Days, gay neighborhood festival, in August. Well-developed gay business infrastructure in Boystown and neighboring communities.
Gay Games host summer 2006.
- Dallas, Texas
- Denver, Colorado
- Fire Island
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Guerneville, California
- Houston, Texas
- Key West, Florida
- Laguna Beach, California
- Long Beach, California
- Los Angeles, California
- Manhattan: Site of gay villages Christopher Street, the birthplace of the
gay liberation movement, Greenwich Village and Chelsea.
Enormous annual gay pride parade.
- Miami Beach, Florida
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Orlando, Florida
- Palm Springs, California
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running the
USA's largest gay tourism marketing campaign "Get your history straight and your nightlife gay".
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Portland, Oregon
- Provincetown, Massachusetts
- San Francisco, California: Site of The Castro. Enormous gay pride parade in June, and such world-famous street festivals
as the Folsom Street Fair, the Castro Street Fair and the
Halloween festivities in the Castro. Twice host to the Gay Games.
- Saugatuck, Michigan
- Seattle, Washington: Site of gay village Capitol Hill.
- Tucson, Arizona
- Washington D.C.: Site of gay village Dupont Circle.
- West Hollywood, California
Gay tourism specialists
The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), the world's leading travel trade association committed to
growing and enhancing its members gay and lesbian tourism business, holds an annual convention and four symposia in different
tourism destinations around the world. Each symposium attracts over 100 representatives of tour agencies and travel publications
that specialise in the gay and lesbian market. The association was founded in 1983, and it currently represents over 900 members.
Its headquarters are in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The "International Gay & Lesbian World Travel Expo" in 2004 celebrated its 12th year of operations, with a series of
expositions in seven cities around the United States. In 2005 the series will travel to eight cities.
The Out Traveler, from the publishers of Out and The Advocate, is a glossy magazine aimed at gay and lesbian
travellers. It is published six times yearly. They maintain a website (http://www.outtraveler.com/index.asp).
The "gay-ing" of the travel industry
Executive Travel Associates, a full-service travel management company, writes in their Travel News article "Same-sex
vacations" (Tuesday, April 06, 2004) that "The travel industry, already excited about the growing niche of gay tourism, hopes the
recent surge in same-sex marriage translates into a new travel
segment: gay honeymoons."
Travel companies of all types are aligning themselves with the gay community in general and the gay tourism market,
specifically. American Airlines is a sponsor of the
"International Gay & Lesbian World Travel Expo" in 2005.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts provides a Gay & Lesbian Travel portal (http://www.wyndham.com/locator/gay_lesbian/main.wnt) on its website and sponsors such major
GLBT organisations as National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, Human Rights Campaign, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
External links
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