about us

Homosexual travellers are a highly attractive niche market for suppliers, hotels, tour operators and tourism boards. The reasons are obvious: gays and lesbians benefit from a higher disposable income (singles or no kids) and more flexibility with holiday seasons. Furthermore they have a distinctive interest for travel. According to serious studies they are travelling more times a year than the average population – short city trips as well as long-distance destinations.
Attending the needs of gay and lesbian travellers combined with an integrated marketing strategy – that’s our longtime experience – will be rewarded with strong loyalty by the clientele.

• There are several examples of effective gay travel marketings like the campaigns of the tourism boards of Flanders/ Brussels, Vienna, Fort Lauderdale and Key West, South Africa, Stockholm or Spain. But also single suppliers can be involved successfully in gay marketing efforts.
• The most impressive example is the Barcelona based Hotel Axel which promotion (“hetero friendly”) created a furore and made the label popular worldwide. In March 2008 Hotel Axel opened in Buenos Aires and in and in April 2009 in Berlin.

They all started the experiment of open and direct marketing among gay travellers, paying attention to the simple facts that gay and lesbian travellers have special needs and different interests which are not compatible 1:1 to mainstream tourists.
According to our experience they appreciate an open-minded speech with pics and symbols to identify themselves as well as a gay friendly ambiance which is really familiar with their needs and social background.

But how to encourage tourism boards/destinations, hotels or suppliers to focus additionally on gay and lesbian travellers? How to deal with cultural and social differences and how to find the right access to the special clientele – in Germany as well as in other countries with a high visible and developed gay community?

Gay travel marketing is not everybody’s darling in the beginning and it’s much more than using the rainbow flag. Sometimes it’s not that easy to reduce fears or uncertainties relating to the “gay world”. It’s also a question of professional sensitivity, authenticity and competence to create a distinct added value as result of such marketing efforts.

In our comprehension gay travel marketing need an integrated place in the marketing plan of suppliers hotels, tour operators and tourism boards. A hidden rainbow flag at the door or in a brochure is not the way of speech gay people are expecting. They identify very quickly the run for the promising “pink dollar” without commitment to the gay market.

The members of Gay Travel Alliance – an online gay guide and a travel agency with a queer travel site based in Berlin – believe that gay travel marketing has to be based on an integrated strategy to be successful in the long run. And it must be part of the general marketing plans of suppliers, hotels, tour operators and tourism boards.

A small rainbow at the door or within a brochure is not the way of speech gay travellers are expecting. They identify very quickly the run for the promising “pink dollar” without serious and credible commitment to the gay clientele.

The professionals behind GTA are experts of travel business and public relation with many years of daily experience in communication and distribution. GTA means marketing, distribution and public relation in one hand.

If you are interested in promotion of products, services and special offers or nothing else than the “right image” we can assist you in creating a marketing concept including suitable activities for the gay clientele. Last but not least GTA is interested in new travel destinations which are worth to be discovered for the gay and lesbian traveller.

We will make you fit for access to the world of gay travel – and more.
The message is one thing. The other is to sell your offers. We can do it for you! Test our knowledge and experience in gay travel over years and don’t waste your money in advertising campaigns which don’t serve the gay consumer’s needs.