Globetrender report reveals queer travel trends

Globetrender recently published a report, ‘The Future of Queer Travel’, outlining trends to look out for in the travel industry and, recommending ways to protect and accommodate queer clientele during their travels.

Over the past ten years the queer community and queer market have grown tremendously. The report estimates that the queer travel market generated a revenue of USD$218 billion (R4 trillion) before the pandemic, and expects the amount to grow to US$568.5 billion (R10.5 trillion) by 2030.

Queer Family Travel

With only 35 countries in the world allowing gay marriage, queer parents have fears of being outed by cries of “Mummy,Mama” or “Daddy,Papa” in hostile environments. As a result, when considering travel destinations for queer families, challenges such as facing discrimination or homophobia need to be considered.

The first obvious tip to decide on a destination, is to only visit countries were gay marriage is legalized. However, the other tip recommended by the report is to look for places where well-established Pride festivals are celebrated, as it acts as a good indicator of how accommodating a country is. However, this will not account for the opinions and attitudes of other guests.

Darren Burn, the Founder of Out of Office travel company offers some advice on how to protect queer clientele during their travels.

“From a safety point of view, we do a number of things behind the scenes to ensure our itineraries are safe and welcoming for LGBTQ+ families. We offer bespoke advice around local laws, we ensure clients are travelling with the correct documentation, and we work with an industry-leading portfolio of safe and welcoming partners across the world, even in the most challenging of destinations.”

Burn goes on to explain how the company has spent time making connections with private immigration officers in popular travel destinations with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, in order to ensure their clients are not unnecessarily interrogated or turned away at customs.

Put A Ring On It Trips

Be it grand proposals, destinations weddings or honeymoons, romance-based vacations are popular and the queer community is following suit - so long as it is accommodated.

The destinations that will rightly benefit from this surge will mainly be places where same-sex marriage is legalized, however some select hotels in anti-LGBTQ+ countries are willing to host symbolic same-sex weddings, so long as agents know who they are.

Considering the popularity of romance-based travel among straight couples, the report expects millions more engagements, marriages and honeymoons to benefit the industry.

Gay-I Interfaces

Although most people prefer a person to automated booking, check-in, checkpoint, room service or terminal system, the same cannot be said for the queer community.

People have opinions, biases and dispositions, and although they should not be imposed in work situations, this is not always the case, so people who identify as minorities are not always accommodated. This is one of the reasons that AI as a travel tool is growing in popularity, beyond its efficiency and personalization capabilities.

ENDS.