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"Australian tourism is still not gay enough"... That’s the message from Joshua O’Neil, a leading gay and lesbian marketing specialist.
By not catering enough to the gay community, the local tourism industry was still missing out on a large slice of the population pie. Gays are on the whole high earners, have a large disposable income, and are generally free to travel without children.
While places such as Sydney and the Gold Coast are already tapped into the gay market share, the rest of Australia was still lagging behind when it came to being “gay welcoming”.
O’Neil, who represents Puffta Media, feels that the tourism industry should be more open to all groups in general, no matter who they are. More businesses, he says, will then “feel more comfortable about targeting [the gay] market which is great for our community.”
As we reported in (DNA #97) recently, the Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras does not receive a single cent of either state or federal funding, even though the event generates $46 million tourist dollars annually.
By not catering enough to the gay community, the local tourism industry was still missing out on a large slice of the population pie. Gays are on the whole high earners, have a large disposable income, and are generally free to travel without children.
While places such as Sydney and the Gold Coast are already tapped into the gay market share, the rest of Australia was still lagging behind when it came to being “gay welcoming”.
O’Neil, who represents Puffta Media, feels that the tourism industry should be more open to all groups in general, no matter who they are. More businesses, he says, will then “feel more comfortable about targeting [the gay] market which is great for our community.”
As we reported in (DNA #97) recently, the Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras does not receive a single cent of either state or federal funding, even though the event generates $46 million tourist dollars annually.
1 comment:
Australian Tourism actually has NO investment in Gay tourism to Australia. AT Directors in 2 major countries told us that. In fact, they do NO niche or target marketing whatsoever to any group, so we can't call them anti-Gay, just perhaps missing a huge opportunity.
And while Sydney Mardi Gras is certainly an important event, it's really just a fraction of annual Gay Travel spending by visitors to Australia: by our research, inbound Gay Tourism is worth $10 BILLION to Australia over the next 10 years.
Scollay
www.QGuide.com
Travel through a Gay Lens
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