I’m in Vancouver attending the 9th International Conference on Gay and Lesbian Tourism. It’s a great conference and features many of the leaders in the gay and lesbian travel and tourism industry. I’ve met representatives from airlines such as Delta and Qantas and convention and visitors bureaus such as Las Vegas and Palm Springs. But I’ve also met a number of people from corporations and visitors bureaus not as widely recognized for their engagement with our community (Halifax anyone? Sounds like a nice place to visit!). Even in this weakening economy, gay and lesbian outreach and communications is alive and well in the travel and tourism industry.
Here are few highlights of the things I’m learning from the participants in this year’s conference:
- Bloomington, Indiana has a multi-year track record of engagement and involvement LGBT tourism marketing that has demonstrated real returns in increased tourism to the city – if you never thought of Bloomington, Indiana as a gay tourism leader, you should now.
- Leading industry trade publication Travel Weekly will launch two special sections on LGBT travel next year: one in May and one in November. Start thinking about those pitches now!
- Travelocity not only has a dedicated LGBT travel portal, but they spend approximately $1 million per year on LGBT marketing. And business generated by their LGBT travel portal grows dramatically each year.
- Kimpton Hotels tracked approximately $3.7 million in revenue earned from LGBT members of its Kimpton In Touch program in 2007.
There’s much more to come, and I’ll be blogging on many of the other things I learned here in the coming weeks. And I’ll also post Q&As with many of the fascinating people I’ve met here over the next few weeks. In the meantime, big thanks to Tom, David, David, Duncan and the team from Community Marketing Inc. for putting on another great conference!
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Fantastic information Ben, thank you for sharing. I know that the T&T practice group and I will look forward to hearing more from you this week.