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Gay City has partnered with GW Travel and Cruise to create the Gay City Travel Club. Now, when you book your travel, you can support your favorite community organization, too. Simply make your travel reservations through GW Travel, and a donation in your name will be made to Gay City.
GW Travel is a full-service travel agency, staffed by experienced agents who provide concierge level travel services in addition to the best deals around. Booking your trip through GW Travel won't cost any more than booking it elsewhere, plus you'll get the benefit of the personalized service they offer. And support Gay City to boot.
See the world. Support your community. Be a part of the Gay City Travel Club. If you need more information about destinations, or assistance scheduling a trip, GW Travel and Cruise is ready to help.
LGBT Travel
Does A Successful LGBT Rights Movement Spell The End For LGBT Travel?
Sean Kearns, GW Travel and Cruise
What is the future of LGBT events and the LGBT specialized travel market?
The fight for LGBT equality has been gaining momentum of late, exemplified in such cases as the end of DODT, the possibility of passing an LGBT inclusive national ENDA, and the recent steps toward full statewide marriage equality in Washington. One potential consequence of our society’s increasingly accepting view of LGBT communities, though, is the decline in popularity of LGBT specific travel and travel companies.
With an increasing number of destinations advertising themselves as LGBT friendly, what will happen to the parties, events and festivals marketing themselves exclusively to the LGBT community?
As a 44 year-old gay man, I fondly remember my first gay events, from Whistler’s Gay Ski Week to Provincetown’s summer beaches. It was a time of camaraderie, unity, and confidence in being gay men.
Times have changed over the past fifteen years. While many people of my generation still feel the desire for the camaraderie of LGBT destinations and events, younger generations, who may not have dealt with the same struggles for acceptance as mine, seem to shrug of the labels of their sexual orientation and feel much more comfortable at mainstream events and destinations.
When I speak with people in their 20’s and 30’s, I find that their outlook is very different than mine was at that age. I’m told that their friends or family don’t care that they’re gay; that they want to vacation together as with their friends and loved ones regardless of whether or not they’re gay or straight. While this is clearly a success of the LGBT equality movement, it begs the question: what does this mean for the future of LGBT travel, events, and destinations?
I saw many old friends while attending Whistler’s 2012 Winter Pride event recently; friends that I’ve made from attending regularly for the past 15 years. What I didn’t see, though, were many new or younger faces, faces from the generations that come after mine.
I’ve noticed the same trend on the gay cruises I’ve attended. The most recent, and RSVP cruise, reportedly had the oldest average guest age onboard the ship of any RSVP cruise. In addition, a reported lack of sales on the Atlantis cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Allure Of The Seas, the largest gay cruise in the world, made my take genuine notice of this shift in LGBT travel trends.
Where are the younger LGBT men and women? The weak economy is certainly a factor in the decline of the travel industry overall. When it comes to the LGBT specific industry, however, how much impact has the increasing trend toward LGBT equality had?
Will the success of the LGBT equality movement spell the demise of the LGBT travel industry? There seems to still be enough business in the current LGBT travel market for those companies to survive over the short term, the demographic is shrinking dramatically. Only those companies that evolve will survive.
For example, are LGBT travelers willing to pay almost double to be on a gay cruise, with many mainstream cruise line now offering LGBT gatherings and events each day? Princess, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines are a few good examples of travel companies that going out of their way to make LGBT guests feel welcome on every cruise.
Many LGBT travel companies and events were created during a time when LGBT travelers needed a safe place to go and to enjoy themselves. How should the LGBT travel industry evolve to best meet the needs of today’s LGBT travelers?
LGBT Travel Survey
Gay City Travel Club is your travel club. It is here to serve your travel needs and provide you great deals in a way that also benefits Gay City. Every trip booked through Gay City Travel Club this year will help Gay City to build a new facility that will have positive impact for Seattle's LGBT community for years to come. For more info on our new facility, visit gaycity.org/buildout
LGBT travel is changing rapidly. We want to know how you see it changing so that we can create the trips and find the best deals to offer you over the next year. We appreciate you taking two minutes to give us your feedback.
More Info
Visit GW Travel and Cruise for more information, or call 425-736 -3106, and be sure to mention "Gay City."
