In my first post on this blog, I made the point that promoting gay travel and tourism impacts political and social changes in societies because political leaders recognize the value of the gay dollar/Euro/local currency and the link between anti-gay policies and lack of gay visitors to their cities/states/countries.
As an American of Polish heritage and a gay man, I’ve been watching the ongoing coverage of growing anti-gay sentiment in Poland with great interest. If you’ve missed the story, here’s the quick recap: while most of the European Union (EU) has been moving towards greater acceptance of LGBT people and more active engagement in courting LGBT travelers, Poland is one of just a handful of countries in the region moving in the opposite direction.
In the past several years, municipal governments in Warsaw have banned pride parades and spoken out against LGBT people with increasing vitriol. The twin brothers who serve as prime minister and president of Poland have been outspoken in their opposition to equal rights for LGBT people. At least one branch of the government has launched investigations into gay people and organizations and there is reportedly a committee in the Health Ministry working on “curing” LGBT people.
Last week, the Observer in London reported that LGBT Poles are fleeing the country to live in England and other more tolerant countries in the European Union.
This situation contrasts with growing interest in Poland as a tourism destination and the further development of the country’s tourism infrastructure to meet this interest. I haven’t seen any gay-focused tourism efforts for Poland, but our community does travel and we often "discover" new places before other audiences flock to them en masse.
My partner Mark and I visited Poland two summers ago (Mark took the photo to the left: it’s a bus shelter advertising a magazine featuring a story on gay people) – we arrived on the day after that year’s Pride parade was supposed to have taken place. We found people in the cities to be hospitable and warm, but it was clear that they didn’t see a lot of gay tourists. And although we saw a lot of tourists during our week-long visit, there weren’t many Americans in evidence.
Nonetheless, the rising cost of travel to Europe and the increasing interest in visiting the continent mean that less expensive places off the beaten path are becoming more attractive to tourists.
I’ve been waiting for these two conflicting issues to collide: the growing interest in tourism with the growing intolerance for gay people in countries like Poland. Will the almighty dollar (or zloty, in this case) have an impact on the anti-gay policies of the country? Poland is no gay tourism destination on the order of Ibiza, Mykonos or other fabulous European beach spots, but it is a beautiful country with a rich history and vibrant culture that is attractive to many different types of people – LGBT travelers among them.
As communicators, we must adapt to the business and social climate of the regions in which we operate. In much of the EU and in many places in the US, LGBT marketing is taking hold because society recognizes the economic impact of reaching out to a powerful, loyal, untapped community. But what about those countries that are still transitioning to a market economy? What opportunities will there be for LGBT communications activities in these places as their economies mature and they enter the world marketplace?
Poland is a good bellwether for gauging the changing answer to that question. The rest of Europe is certainly applying public pressure with Europride participants in Madrid this year protesting in front of Poland’s Embassy and carrying signs calling for change in Poland. And today’s Washington Post features a front page story about gay people fleeing Kosovo and other countries because of persecution. People are definitely paying attention.
I’ll be watching and hoping that the land of my ancestors comes to its senses and backs off its horrible anti-gay policies and actions and begins to welcome LGBT travelers. I’ll keep you posted.
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