LONDON, UK (OUTNOW) -- MAY 10, 2011 -- Results of the largest market research study of its kind are released today - and the new report reveals - for the first time - which are the true gay tourism hotspots, right around the world.
Many travel destinations have at times laid claim to being a 'Gay Capital', and there have been previous surveys published purporting to reveal the favourite places for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) travellers. However these have traditionally focused primarily on sampling just the LGBT community in the USA.
A new study from Out Now Global for the first time reveals results from LGBT people living in 18 countries right around the world - to give a far more definitive and much more accurate global picture of exactly where LGBT people are planning to visit for their holidays in the next three years.
With almost 40,000 respondents from this landmark study, Out Now's LGBT2020 research is the largest study of its kind ever to be undertaken. As well as a comprehensive data set collected from the USA and Canada, the research also covered seven countries never before tested in the fast growing region of Latin America.
Samples were undertaken in ten languages in eighteen countries - including key markets across Europe, as well as Japan and Australia.
"Out Now is delighted to be dramatically expanding the global knowledge-base of tourism data with the LGBT2020 research study project," said Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now. "This is the most comprehensive LGBT research project ever undertaken. We sample in ten languages and in 2011 we will reach people living in 25 countries around the world. There has never been an LGBT market research project with the scale and true global reach of LGBT2020."
These results set the global benchmark for measuring LGBT travel aspirations, and provide a wealth of valuable information for those wanting to understand how to tap into the lucrative gay and lesbian tourism market.
Out Now tested a range of destinations across all regions and has compiled the first global travel rankings ever to have been compiled.
The results, which were collected in ten languages across six continents show some marked regional differences, but also some striking similarities too.
New York for example ranks consistently as the number one destination that LGBT travellers globally wish to visit in the next three years in North America. While London is a firm favourite for LGBT travellers from Europe, North America and Australia - the huge desire for South Americans to see the delights of Paris lift it the top of the LGBT city rankings for Europe.
Likewise the city of Sydney also made a near clean-sweep in most of the countries tested, proving that there are some destinations that have pulling power for potential lesbian and gay tourists, no matter where they live on the planet.
The country findings also showed a few surprises, with France almost beating out the USA for the number one desired country to visit, and Argentina and Brazil both making it into the elite group of the Top 10 must-see countries for LGBT travellers.
Mark Elderkin, CEO of Gay Ad Network, the category-leading gay media network, says the new data should prove useful to advertisers looking to reach LGBT travellers. "Travel is one of the leading advertising categories across gay digital media platforms," Elderkin says. "This new LGBT2020 data is a valuable and unique decision-making resource for the travel industry."
A full list of the findings of this study, from single, regional and all eighteen global markets are available from Out Now: www.outnowconsulting.com
DATA SOURCE MUST BE REFERENCED AS: 'Out Now Global LGBT2020 Study'.
Which of the following places would you be interested in visiting for a holiday in the NEXT THREE YEARS?
Countries
Country / Ranking / Globally / Score
(Max 180)
USA / 1 / 129
France / 2 / 128
Spain / 3 / 114
England / 4 / 108
Italy / 5 / 92
Germany / 6 / 73
Australia / 7 / 62
Canada / 8 / 55
Argentina / 9 / 50
Brazil / 10 / 47
Cities in Europe / UK
City / Ranking Globally / Score
(Max 180)
Paris / 1 / 168
London / 2 / 156
Amsterdam / 3 / 124
Barcelona / 4 / 112
Rome / 5 / 98
Berlin / 6 / 95
Madrid / 7 / 89
Venice / 8 / 73
Prague / 9 / 43
Vienna / 10 / 20
Cities in North America
City / Ranking Globally / Score
(Max 180)
New York / 1 / 179
San Francisco / 2 / 165
LA/West Hollywood / 3 / 126
Las Vegas / 4 / 109
Miami / 5 / 90
Chicago / 6 / 81
Vancouver / 7 / 73
Toronto / 8 / 52
Washington / 9 / 50
Boston / 10 / 27
Cities in Africa / Latin America / Caribbean
City / Ranking Globally / Score
(Max 180)
Rio de Janeiro / 1 / 173
Buenos Aires / 2 / 154
Sao Paulo / 3 / 121
Cancun / 4 / 102
Mexico City / 5 / 101
Cape Town / 6 / 99
Marrakech / 7 / 54
Cuzco / 8 / 39
Bogota / 9 / 38
Punta del Este / 10 / 35
Cities in Australia / NZ / Middle East / Asia
City / Ranking globally / Score
(Max 180)
Sydney / 1 / 177
Tokyo / 2 / 148
Hong Kong / 3 / 128
Melbourne / 4 / 127
Auckland / 5 / 90
Bangkok / 6 / 69
Singapore / 7 / 64
Beijing / 8 / 59
Gold Coast / 9 / 47
Tel Aviv / 10 / 46
Regions/ provinces/ states/ lifestyle
Region / Ranking globally / Score
(Max 180)
California / 1 / 154
NY State / 2 / 149
Hawaii / 3 / 143
Caribbean / 4 / 141
Florida / 5 / 102
Quebec / 6 / 76
Canary Islands / 7 / 65
Adventure Holidays / 8 / 56
Ontario / 9 / 37
Eco Tourism / 10 / 30
Global top 20 LGBT holiday city destinations
Destination / Ranking globally / Score (Max 180)
New York / 1 / 179
Sydney / 2 / 177
Rio de Janeiro / 3 / 173
Paris / 4 / 168
San Francisco / 5 / 165
London / 6 / 156
Buenos Aires / 7 / 154
Tokyo / 8 / 148
Hong Kong / 9 / 128
Melbourne / 10 / 127
LA/West Hollywood / 11 / 126
Amsterdam / 12 / 124
São Paulo / 13 / 121
Barcelona / 14 / 112
Las Vegas / 15 / 109
Cancun / 16 / 102
Mexico City / 17 / 101
Capetown / 18 / 99
Rome / 19 / 98
Berlin / 20 / 95
Date from: 'Out Now Global LGBT2020 Study'.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
The 'Out Now Global LGBT2020 Study' is a ten year program of market research and is the world's most comprehensive LGBT research project.
In 2011 the study is sampling gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people in ten languages from 25 countries on six continents on many aspects of their lives. From LGBT travel and tourism patterns, lifestyle habits, consumer expenditure, incomes, spending, harassment, discrimination, employment and entertainment preferences - the LGBT2020 project is a groundbreaking project from Out Now.
In 2010 almost 40,000 respondents from around the world participated in the LGBT2020 study.
More information is available at www.LGBT2020.com and www.OutNowConsulting.com
Out Now is a global LGBT marketing agency that has for two decades been relied upon by the world's leading organisations to better understand the lives and concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Clients include IBM, Toyota, Lufthansa, Qantas, German National Tourist Office, Barclays Bank, National Australia Bank, Lloyds TSB Banking Group and Citibank.
