Posted on 04/16/2006 3:38:39 PM PDT by dukeman
TRAVEL: Cities ignore politics to campaign for Palm Springs' gay and lesbian tourism dollars.
Palm Springs has been on to something.
Since ushering out college-aged spring breakers in the 1980s and welcoming gay tourists, the city has earned a gay-friendly image and part of the estimated $65 billion spent nationwide by gay travelers every year.
This weekend alone, the city expects 20,000 gay men to gather for the annual White Party, bringing $4 million with them.
That kind of spending has brought some unlikely gay and lesbian suitors to the table and given Palm Springs bigger-budgeted competitors. Dallas just launched a gay marketing campaign this year, and Waterloo, Iowa has shown interest in the gay demographic, two of several regions across the country with either real or assumed conservative politics that want to be known as "gay-friendly."
The Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism has $1.4 million to spend, giving better-funded regional tourism groups an advantage when it comes to attracting gays and lesbians, said Michael Green, the president of the Palm Springs Hospitality Association and owner of the Triangle Inn gay resort.
"We have to take any competitor seriously ... whether it's a Vegas, a Phoenix, Philadelphia," Green said.
But Dallas?
Even after Texas joined 19 other states last year in banning gay marriage in the state's constitution, the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, through its Web site, event sponsorships and promotions, has been lauding the city to gay and lesbian travelers.
Steve Jolly, spokesman for the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, is unbowed. He points to the city's gay and lesbian church, men's choral group and art scene as proof it, too, can be a gay-friendly destination.
"Dallas is a very contemporary, liberal city ... different than what people assume ... It (Texas) is a red state, but Dallas itself is just barely red," he assures.
Growing Trend
David Paisley, programs manager for Community Marketing Inc., a San Francisco-based research firm focusing on gay tourists, said the marketing trend has sped up recently but is nothing new. Some cities realized gay and lesbian spending power several years ago and caught on to what Palm Springs had been doing for decades.
"Gay or straight, the travel market loves dual-income-no-kids," he said. And in some cases, the cities gain voters and taxpayers.
"As more gays live in Palm Springs ... people are coming down to visit their friends," Paisley said.
Out of 20,516 Palm Springs households surveyed for the 2000 Census, 832 were gay partners. The Census doesn't account for single gay men or women.
Political Tourism
Paisley said cities without the built-in tolerant image of a Palm Springs now seeking his services for niche marketing may need to do more than slap a "gay-friendly" label on advertisements.
"Politics becomes a little more important," he said.
Aubrey Pruis with the Greater Phoenix Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce said persuading gays and lesbians to try out Phoenix in the first place has been a hurdle.
"They're not sure how gay-friendly it is," he said.
One reason could be recent efforts by groups such as the Center for Arizona Policy to introduce a marriage amendment in the state that would effectively ban gay unions.
Peter Gentala, general counsel for the group, said a state amendment defining marriage shouldn't be misinterpreted as anti-gay or not gay-friendly, especially considering 19 other states have passed a similar rule.
"We don't think the state or its political subdivisions should be promoting a homosexual lifestyle," he said. "When you can cast out a wide net to bring in tourists to the state, why would you cast out a much smaller net?"
Politics matter if gay tourists feel threatened, said Jill Pentrack, publisher of Destinations for Men magazine.
"There's factions everywhere ... that are fighting against the quality of rights for gay folks," she said. But gay tourists shouldn't necessarily be dissuaded from trying vacation destinations that may seem less tolerant. "If we ignore them or we don't travel there because of it, it harms the very community we belong to," she said of anti-gay political movements.
"The convention and tourism bureaus see the dollar signs in the gay and lesbian tourism market," said John Tanzella, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association. They spend more, travel more and stay at nicer places, he said.
Even tourism officials with Waterloo -- the birthplace of John Deere's farming-equipment empire -- have talked to Tanzella about joining his group and marketing to gay and lesbian tourists. "You're not going to get a bunch of gay guys from South Beach to go," he said. But gay Europeans might be interested.
"They're intrigued by middle America," he said.
Palm Springs Pioneer
When 20,000 gay men crowd Palm Springs this weekend, they won't be faced with politics, just a city that has spawned businesses and services to cater to them.
The city's history as a haven for gay lifestyles isn't new. Along with the typical Hollywood crowd, Palm Springs became home to flamboyant piano man Liberace and a resort for closeted Rock Hudson.
"They could come out here and be gay and party," Green said. "Palm Springs has grown up with that ... it's had a naughty edge to it," he said.
The annual White Party is on the heels of the Dinah Shore weekend parties from Los Angeles-based event promoters GirlBar and Club Skirts that brought thousands of lesbians to the desert at the end of March.
"I really feel that between GirlBar and the White Party ... we put Palm Springs on the map," said Sandy Sachs, co-organizer of the annual GirlBar party. She's been approached by several cities to move her Palm Springs gathering. Flattering she says, but nothing she seriously considers.
"We're never leaving Palm Springs," she said.
But if they can't have her party, cities might settle for Sachs' money when she travels.
"I'm just grateful that they've taken notice," she said. "Look at the gays and lesbians, they have money!"
LET'S GO
The country's most popular destinations for gay and lesbian travelers for the 12 months ending August 2005:
1. New York City
2. Las Vegas
3. San Francisco
4. Los Angeles/W. Hollywood
5. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Chicago
8. Miami/South Beach
9. Palm Springs
10. San Diego
Source: Community Marketing Inc.
Cities are selling their souls for short-term quick revenue, but the long run, disgusted families will leave and cities' tax bases will erode.
White party? White? Symbol of purity?
I gotta hand it to gays --they're masters of marketing. Even the term, "gay" is pretty misleading, as most gay dudes are self-destructive, nihilistic, and depressed.
Rainbows, too --what could be nicer? Everybody likes that...
It's funny --we collect statistics for EVERYTHING; how much your life is shortened by 30 minutes in the same room as an active smoker, for example, and yet we never hear how many years on average the lives of actively gay men are shortened.
The one statistic I've heard is that 25% of gay men in SF are HIV+.
That's it.
BUMP
Too bad the Christian dollar is not so sought after.
It is -- in place like Branson, MO, Nashville, etc.
What?! San Francisco is number THREE?!
Interesting that 1% of the population has SO much "voice," money and power.
I don't get the "white" part either.
I'm not sure about the 25% AIDS/HIV positive, but it's close. The City has so much help for them.
Homosexual men now lead really long lives, into their 70's. BUT, they are always ill, always having to take very complex "coctails" of medication.
There is just quantity of years....not especially any quality.
I don't get the "white" part either.
Throw back to Victorian age when all formal parties were "white tie" etc. Then came military dress and those rabble rousers from Tuxedo NY.
1. New York City
2. Las Vegas
3. San Francisco
4. Los Angeles/W. Hollywood
5. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Chicago
8. Miami/South Beach
9. Palm Springs
10. San Diego
Final destination-Gomorragh
Source: Community Marketing Inc.
Life imitates art? Simpsons had an episode where Springfield goes gay to attract gay tourists.
The CDC stopped collecting the information, since it was so dramatic. The last reports I saw was that if you EXCLUDE those with HIV, the average life expectancy of a homosexual male is in their early 40s.
That's odd, I didn't see Sodom or Gomorrah on the list.
"They represent 2% of the population and yet seem to have a demographic influence outweighing all but the largest minorities; there are a lot of sub-groups that 2% of the population is is a part of that no one every notices. Why is this? Could it be an agenda???"
One reason is they are organized unlike most other groups of similiar size. Second they are extremely vocal and outspoken.
Food for thought on your agenda comment; one of the highest priority issues of the UN is over population on earth. One thing gay people don't do is breed.
"That's odd, I didn't see Sodom or Gomorrah on the list."
Cause they werent in the top 10.
10. San Diego
???
Sure. You don't go to San Francisco for vacation if you already live there.
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