A personal reflection in response to Destination Analysts’ June 1st, 2021 panel discussion with LGBTQIA travelers, by David Reichbach, Senior Director of Analytics & Data Security at Destination Analysts.
Note: Views expressed here belong to David Reichbach and do not necessarily represent those of other Destination Analysts staff or the company itself.
As a proud member of the queer community, it was an honor to interview our panel of LGBTQIA travelers to kick-off Pride Month and discuss their current feelings about travel, safety and inclusivity. Craig, Gayle, Savio and Sierra, who represent a range of ages, backgrounds and traveler personas, dialed in from all across the country to share their unique perspectives on how they travel, what motivates them to travel and their important considerations in selecting leisure destinations.
Similar to what we’ve seen in focus groups with other travel segments, LGBTQIA travelers want to see themselves in advertisements and marketing. Their advice to travel marketers is to “Show us instead of keeping us invisible.” Not only are they significantly more interested in visiting destinations that portray our community in travel advertising, but they strongly prioritize going to places that actively promote diversity and inclusion.
As Americans emerge from the pandemic and leisure travel begins to fully recover, the LGBTQIA traveler community is excited to travel more than ever and will be looking for destinations that will accept and welcome them with open arms. Simply put, “Now is the right time to change the narrative and normalize the LGBTQIA experience.”
Watch the full panel discussion below.