Gay tourism: Encyclopedia II - Gay tourism - Gay travel destinations

Gay tourism - Gay travel destinations

Gay travel destinations are popular among gays because they 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 dance 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Gay travel destinations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki