The Catalonian city of Barcelona and the Greek island Mykonos are promoting their LGBT tourism to secure their economic growth this month.
Barcelona is currently hosting its ‘Circuit Festival’ from Aug. 8 – 18 for 70,0000 gays of which 70% are foreigners from around 80 countries.
Mykonos – Greece’s most expensive island – will also host its summer gay festival this month,‘Xlsior Mykonos’, with around 30,000 people expected to attend.
The event, which will take place from Aug. 21 – 28, is being sponsored by MTV, Red Bull, Heineken, Aegean Airlines and other major companies.
Barcelona’s Circuit Festival is organised by the Matinée Group, which is run by Manuel Soria Gimeno and Jacinto Cuervas Barroso.
Among the main beneficiaries of the Catalonian festival is the Axel Hotels, owned by Juan P. Juliá Blanch.
Juliá is in the board of directors of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), an affiliate member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO),
Other board members of the IGLTA include: Jon Muñoz, vice president of global diversity and inclusion for the Hilton; Apoorva Gandhi, vice president of multicultural affairs for Marriott International; Steven Larkin, director of sales for Delta Air Lines; Felipe Cardenas, CEO of the Colombian LGBT Chamber of Commerceand Maria G. Tuttocuore, senior executive of sales & marketing of the Monaco GovernmentTourist Office.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), there were 1.4 billion overnight tourists worldwide in 2018.
The World Tourism Organisation estimated in a 2016 report that LGBT travellers account for five to 10 per cent of global tourists.
The IGLTA also promotes LGBT tourism with its annual global convention . Its next one will be in Milan from May 6 – 9, 2020, to “connect gay, lesbian and gay-friendly travel and tourism suppliers and buyers through its hosted buyer and scheduled appointment program, numerous educational workshops and networking receptions.”
LGBT legislation also improves the economy
According to a report of the UNWTO, promoting same-sex marriage legislation results in an increase of LGBT tourists and therefore economic benefits.
“As the first UNWTO Global Report on LGBT Tourism observed in 2012, beyond the economic benefits, the approval of legislation in favour of equality for same-sex couples sends a powerful brand image of tolerance, respect, progress and open-mindedness, resulting in an increase in LGBT visitors, among others.”
A report of the Williams Institute on the economic impact of same-sex marriage stated that “wedding spending by these couples and their out-of-state guests have boosted state and local economies by an estimated $1.58 billion, and have generated an estimated $102 million in state and local sales tax revenue. This spending could support an estimated 18,900 jobs for one full year.
Tel Aviv also has its eye on the ‘pink dollar’
American Airlines named Tel Aviv “the best gay city in the world” in a survey it conducted with GayCities.com back in 2012.
A quarter of a million flocked to Tel Aviv for this year’s LGBT march in June this year, the biggest in the region.
On June 5, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Amir Ohana as Minister of Justice, the first openly LGBT person to serve as a minister in the Israeli government.
Gay Jewish American journalist David Kaufman described Israel’s “gay friendliness” as a “larger national-rebranding strategy, in the hopes of redirecting its global image away from politics, terrorism and the occupied territories.”
In January 2008, Tel Aviv’s municipality established the city’s LGBT Community centre, which includes an indoor playground for toddlers and unisex bathrooms.
In December 2008, Tel Aviv organised a team of 30 homosexual athletes to represent Israel at the 2009 World Outgames, a gay sporting event in Copenhagen. In addition, Tel Aviv hosts an annual LGBT Film Festival. Israeli film director Eytan Fox also promoted same-sex relations in his 2006 film ‘The Bubble’.
LGBT propaganda dramatically sways public opinion in just 15 years
There has been a significant change in attitudes in the US on same-sex couples, according to Pew Research Center, an American fact tank based in Washington, D.C.
A survey published in May indicates that in 2004, Americans opposed same-sex marriage by a margin of 60% to 31% and in 2019, a majority of 61% Americans favour it, while 31% oppose it.
Coca-Cola is very careful with its image and it would not have flooded Hungary with same-sex advertisements had it not researched the marked and concluded that there is a majority current support in the US, where its headquarters are based.
And questions about same-sex marriages will be asked for the first time in the 2020 US census questionnaire.
In the meantime, countries such as Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom have been passing laws in recent years making lessons on homosexuality and bisexuality be part of the mandatory curriculum for children as young as five.
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