Just days away from the possible legalization of same-sex marriage in Washington, DC, one of Hawaii's leading newspapers raises questions about its state's appeal as a gay destination.
Hawaii has long been considered one of the top tourism destinations in the world, especially for honeymooners; however, the Pacific Business News reports (posted Jan. 22, 2010; modified Monday, Jan. 25, 2010) that Hawaii's "desirability among gays and lesbians as a travel destination is on the decline."
The article cites survey data from the 14th Annual Gay & Lesbian Tourism Report produced by Community Marketing, Inc., a San Francisco-based marketing firm that specializes in gay travel.
No Hawaii city, such as gay-friendly Honolulu, Waikiki and Maui, made Community Marketing's list of the top US destination for LGBT travelers. Nearly 7% of the survey respondents did report visiting Hawaii in the past 12 months for vacation, and 1% for business travel. And 15% reported that they planned to visit in the next 12 months. To compare, 32% of respondents reported visiting New York City in the past year; 27% for San Francisco and 26% for Las Vegas.
Community Marketing's report includes survey data from 4,726 US gay consumers and was conducted during the 30-day period from October 6, 2009 to November 5, 2009. It estimates that the US gay community represents a $65 billion travel market.
Hawaii's popularity as a gay destination may get a boost soon. On Friday, January 22, 2010, The Hawaii Senate voted 18-7 in favor of same-sex civil unions. The measure is still pending a vote by the Hawaii House.
Comments
Great article. Hawaii is missing the boat by not doing more to court gay travelers.
With the Catholic, Mormon and Evangelical churches here stirring up all kinds of negative sentiment toward gay people (anti-gay rights rallies with tens of thousands bused in by the churches), I don't blame gay people for not wanting to come here. A lot of these demonstrators probably work in tourist related industries, but aren't enlightened enough to realize their actions threaten their continued employment.
Good for the gays -- gay people can spend money in places that actually want to treat them like full people.
Line the beaches and side walks with perverted behavior and Hawaii will lose much more, the majority of the travlers
I would have thought that any place that wanted tourist dollars would encourage gay travelers.
Is this a gay magazine or something? Never heard so much pro-homo B.S. in my life.
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