{"id":541,"date":"2014-05-21T15:12:49","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T18:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/?p=541"},"modified":"2014-05-21T15:12:49","modified_gmt":"2014-05-21T18:12:49","slug":"gay-and-lesbian-travel-agents-speak-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/2014\/05\/21\/gay-and-lesbian-travel-agents-speak-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay and Lesbian Travel: Agents Speak Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Judy Jacobs \u00a0<\/strong>
\npara TravelMarket Report<\/p>\n

Although many of the agents who cater to the LGBT market are gays or lesbians themselves, more and more straight agents are paying attention to a demographic group that is increasingly mainstream.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What does it take to be successful? Travel Market Report spoke to agents who have a history of selling travel to the LGBT population.<\/p>\n

Hot destinations for LGBT clients<\/strong>
\nWhere clients want to travel often depends on where they live, the same as with any other segment. Kirk Dalrymple of Yankee Clipper Travel, a Signature agency in San Francisco sees a lot of travel to Hawaii and Tahiti these days.<\/p>\n

\u201cHawaii\u2019s huge now because they just passed marriage equality. I\u2019m working with Pleasant Holidays, and we\u2019ve selected properties that are appropriate for gay and lesbian couples,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s kind of new for all of them. They\u2019ve never said, \u2018We don\u2019t want your gay travelers,\u2019 but because of marriage equality, everybody is experimenting with it,\u201d said Dalrymple.<\/p>\n

In fact, Dalrymple uses marriage equality as a selling point. \u201cI say, \u2018You know that Hawaii has marriage equality, would you like to try that?\u00a0 Tahiti has marriage equality would you like to try that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruising goes mainstream<\/strong>
\nGay charters with companies such as Olivia or RSVP Vacations remain popular. But more and more gays and lesbians are looking for a mainstream cruise experience with family and friends.<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s Cruise Center, a Signature agency, has a group cruise division, Aquafest Cruises, which blocks cabins on regularly-scheduled sailings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to create an environment where we would have greater integration of LGBT into society and show the public that gay and lesbian travelers are just like they are,\u201d said Tom Baker, Cruise Center\u2019s president. \u201cWe also wanted to meet the needs of clients who don\u2019t want to pay the high price of an all-gay cruise.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why agents should pay attention<\/strong>
\nThe LGBT market is growing, with many more possibilities than in the past, said CJ Marino, president of Monte Carlo Travel, a member of NEST and TRAVELSAVERS.<\/p>\n

\"photo:<\/a>
photo: TravelMarket Report<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe LGBT market is a resource that can be tapped into, especially with gay marriage being legal. Now there are destination weddings,\u201d said Marino.<\/p>\n

There are so many reasons to court gay and lesbian clients, according to Valerie Contrino of Contrino Travel, a member of NEST and Affluent Traveler and a TRAVELSAVERS agency in Staten Island, N.Y.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo generalize they do have a great deal of discretionary income and they pretty much know what they want,\u201d she said. \u201cI find them a pleasure to work with. I find that I\u2019ve been getting referrals from them, and not necessarily other gay folks, but they\u2019re referring me to their family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Market misperceptions<\/strong>
\nAlthough the gay and lesbian market may have more disposable income than some other groups, it doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re necessarily big spenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne misperception that people may have is that they (gays and lesbians) have money to burn.,\u201d said Dalrymple. \u201cMy gay and lesbian travelers want nice places, clean places four star and above, but the next thing they ask is, \u2018Are there any specials there?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also want to know if there will be any children around, if they don\u2019t want to be around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The secret for success<\/strong>
\nIn order to sell to the LGBT market, you need to have the right attitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is changing and anyone who wants to be in this market has to be open-minded and not just be in it because you want to make money. You have to care about your client,\u201d said Moehle.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be judgmental, and embrace them for the people who they are and not for their sexual preference,\u201d said Contrino.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fuente: TravelMarket Report \u00a0::\u00a0This is part two in a series.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Judy Jacobs \u00a0 para TravelMarket Report Although many of the agents who cater to the LGBT market are gays or lesbians themselves, more and more straight agents are paying attention to a demographic group that is increasingly mainstream. What does it take to be successful? Travel Market Report spoke to agents who have a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,43],"tags":[24,92,28,31,96,97,95],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-negocios","category-turismo","tag-gay","tag-gmag360","tag-lesbian","tag-lgbt","tag-market","tag-report","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":543,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions\/543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmag360.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}