Gay Tourism in “non-gay-friendly” destinations

23-10-2009,  Carla Flores on Market Trends and Destination Competitiveness

Over the last decade the gay market segment has been targeted more and more. The United States, Australia, South Africa and Europe have targeted gay travelers as a potential market generating a lot of revenues and positive exposure for a destination. But, in general, this is not the case of Asian destinations, where homosexuality is not accepted. The purpose of this article is then to create a space to reflect on how destinations that are opening up to tourism should confront contrasting behaviors, and specifically that of homosexuals.

Pritchard et al. (2000) argued that “the need for safety, to feel comfortable with like-minded people, and to escape heterosexism, often to specifically gay spaces, emerge as key influences on their choice of holiday”. When traveling to Asian countries the Euro-American gay tourists sometimes may escape from one “prison” to encounter themselves imprisoned in silence as in some countries, mostly Muslim, being gay is still considered a sin. As mentioned by Hanot, these societies are rather conservative and a large share of the population strongly relies on their traditional values. In this discussion, the fact that everybody has the opportunity to “be one-self” and the fact that certain behaviors can sensitively offend others is controversial (Waitt and Markwell, 2006). However, as more countries recognize the incomes generated from gay tourists, some countries where homosexuality is not accepted have started developed a more open attitude in their tourism development by attracting gay segments. This is the case of Cambodia and Taiwan, where gay accommodations and travel agencies have begun to flourish. Also in 2007, Bangkok was considered by Lonely Planet’s Blue List as one of the ten hottest spots for gays in the world. So far, Bangkok is the only city in Asia to have received such a distinction (Hanot, 2009). Which one then is the right attitude? Should countries that open up to tourism accept behaviors and attitudes that they condemn in their own societies or should gays hide themselves and pretend something they are not? Is it possible to create a space in which there is a meeting point between the local culture´s values and norms without offending and obligating the “others” to change the behavior that seems and feels natural to them?

In order to have this meeting point, it is necessary to broaden the mind and also to make sacrifices. Both parties, local´s and gay tourists, must consider each other. In this sense neither the host population should condemn gay behavior, but gay tourists should also consider the host community and not publically behave inappropriate in countries and regions like the ones mentioned before. Codes of conducts for tourists could be an option, as well as, like mentioned before a wider mind in order to accept social differences.

Reference list

• “Sexuality and Holiday Choices: Conversations with gay and lesbian tourists”, Pritchard et al. 2002
• “Gay Tourism: Culture and Context”, Waitt and Markwell, 2006
• “Gay tourism remains mostly ignored in Asia”, Hanot, 2008