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Gay and Lesbian Tourism: The Essential Guide for Marketing This page intentionally left blank Gay and Lesbian Tourism: The Essential Guide for Marketing Jeff Guaracino Amsterdam • Boston • Heidelberg • London • New York • Oxford Paris • San Diego • San Francisco • Singapore • Sydney • Tokyo Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA First edition 2007 Copyright © 2007, Jeff Guaracino. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. The right of Jeff Guaracino to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone (+44) (0) 1865 843830; fax (+44) (0) 1865 853333; email: [email protected]. Alternatively you can submit your request online by visiting the Elsevier web site at http://elsevier.com/locate/permissions, and selecting Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material Notice No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN: 978-0-7506-8232-9 For information on all Butterworth-Heinemann publications visit our web site at books.elsevier.com Printed and bound in Great Britain 0708091010987654321 Working together to grow libraries in developing countries www.elsevier.com | www.bookaid.org | www.sabre.org This book is dedicated to my mother, Lucille Guaracino, who taught me to love God, and to my partner, Dr. Brian Little, who taught me the meaning of love and loving life This page intentionally left blank Author Biography Jeff Guaracino is vice president of com- munications for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC). The Philadelphia Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay®, the ground- breaking gay tourism campaign, has won top awards in the public relations, adver- tising and travel industries. The Philadel- phia campaign has been widely recognized as an innovative model that has proven its effectiveness in generating business and in building the image of the destination. Guaracino also oversees the Hispanic, African-American, and Canadian communication programs. Previously, Guaracino served as director of communica- tions for the Franklin Institute, (Philadelphia’s premier science museum) and prior to that, was communications associate CBS, Inc. and public relations manager at the AIDS Coalition of South- ern New Jersey. Active in the community, he serves as a mar- keting and public relations consultant to a number of regional organizations where he specializes in crisis communications and marketing. Formerly served on the board of the William Way GLBT Community Center. He is also a member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and served on the host committee for the national convention in September 2002. Guara- cino is a graduate of Rowan University and has studied at Temple University. He resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This page intentionally left blank Contents Foreword xi Acknowledgements xiii Introduction xvii Chapter 1 The rise in gay and lesbian tourism, nothing short of historic 1 Chapter 2 Terminology: getting it straight 9 Chapter 3 The economic power of gay tourism: it is about good business not a political or social statement 29 Chapter 4 Building stakeholder support: don’t go it alone 53 Chapter 5 Best practices in gay and lesbian tourism marketing 67 Chapter 6 How do you know if you are gay-friendly? 107 Chapter 7 International, group, meeting and convention and corporate 127 Chapter 8 Gay sports: an international marketing tool 139 Chapter 9 The future 153 Appendix A The commercial closet 165 Appendix B A list of GLBT organizations, meetings, conventions, sporting, religious and human rights groups 175 Index 177 ix •••• This page intentionally left blank Foreword Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants has always been supportive of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It only makes sense. As a company specializing in hospitality, our first priority will always be serving all people with dignity and respect. Kimpton’s gay and lesbian outreach program grew out of the company’s diversity program. The company was founded in San Francisco in the early 1980’s and we have always valued diversity in the workplace. While in the early years of the company, we did not have a recognized LGBT outreach program, the gay and lesbian community certainly recognized us. We were viewed as a perfect fit for the community, offering hotels known for their hip and unique environments, innovative guest programs, and per- sonnel policies that established Kimpton on the leading edge of workplace equality. It was our corporate values that established our presence within the gay and lesbian community first. Kimpton’s relationship with the gay and lesbian community is based on sound business practices. We invest in marketing pro- grams when we believe we will see a return on our investment. Research has firmly established that the gay and lesbian commu- nity travels frequently, is more brand loyal, and is more likely to stay in upscale hotels. But even an established gay-friendly com- pany like Kimpton needed to learn the best practices of serving the LGBT community. Unfortunately, we did not have a book like Gay and Lesbian Tourism: The Essential Guide for Marketing to help us. Instead we relied on our gay and lesbian employees for input as well as information from organizations like HRC and Out & Equal. First, we established gay-friendly work environments and personnel practices. While we had always given back to the community, we next looked at organizing our commitment with our annual Red Ribbon Campaign for HIV/AIDS charities across the coun- try. Then we researched and implemented appropriate marketing and sales tracking strategies. Finally, we empowered our LGBT employees and guests to spread the word about Kimpton’s com- mitment to the gay and lesbian community. In 2006, we were able to track well over five million dollars in business from the gay and lesbian community, and we know that xi •••• Foreword number is much higher if you count community members that have not yet identified themselves through our customer loyalty programs. Of course none of this can be effective if your company is not authentic. Being gay-friendly is not just about throwing a rainbow flag on your brochures and programs. For Kimpton, being gay- friendly is about being true to our core corporate beliefs – of treating all of our internal and external customers with dignity and respect. We are thrilled that the LGBT market has fallen in love with Kimpton – and plan to continue to build the program. Not only is it the right thing to do – it makes sound business sense. We are proud to include our success as a case study in this publication and we applaud Jeff Guaracino and his efforts to provide companies new to the LGBT market with a guide to market success. Niki Leondakis Chief Operating Officer Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Michael Depatie CEO & President Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants •••• xii Acknowledgements Thank you to everyone at Elsevier publishing, especially Jane MacDonald, who took a chance on a first-time author, and to the entire production, editing, sales and marketing team for making this book possible. You have made this book a reality. Thank you to everyone who has changed my professional and personal life, especially Brian Little, Joanne Calabria, Bruce Yelk, Brian Goldthrope, Nina Zucker, Lynda Bramble, Kevin Hanaway, Sue and Brandon Hamilton, Shawn C. and Michelle Waters, Bruce and Michelle Shannon and Mark Segal. My family Jerry, Kim, Taylor, Luke, Travis, Marlene and Dominick Matteo, Theresa and William Sauer, Mary and Dennis Guaracino and their entire families and the Littles. My friends Jessica and George, John and Ricky, Peggy, Joe and Norris, Andrea and Mark, Anthony and Franco, Jonathan (a.k.a Miss Kitty) and Matthew, Jeff and Stan, Kevin and Drew, Marcia and Maria, Old City Ironworks Crew, Tony, Laura, Stu and Jennifer, Dan and Holly, Mike, Owen, Bill and Alejandra and Penelope, Mark, Dan, Charlie, DJ and Christine, and everyone who I wish I could have included but you know who you are. Sorry that I have not been around much. Being this gay takes a lot of time and I love you. I can never thank you enough for loving me, nurturing me and accepting me. My teachers and pioneers in gay travel who have become my friends, Jeff Marsh, Ed Salvato, Matt Link, Michael Luongo, Gregg Kaminsky, Matt Farber, Helene Fortier, Yves Pelliter, Richard Grey, Mark Tewksbury, Eric Hegedus, Steven K. Smith, Serge Gojkovich, R. Bruce McDonald, Jill Pentrack, Martina Navratilova, Kelli and Rosie O’Donnell, Wes Combs, George Carrancho, Betty Young, Andrew Freeman, Michael Doughman, Ben Finzel, Todd Evans, J.R. Pratts, Mike Wood, Don Tuthill, Matt Skallerud, Judy Wieder, Francine Mason, Justin Garrett, George Neary, Tom Roth and his team Jerry, Glenn and David and all my friends who attend the International Gay and Lesbian Tourism Conference. Mike Wilke from the Commercial Closet and Bob Wietck from Wietck-Combs, thank you for your invaluable con- tributions to this book.