Times: Malta being promoted for gay travel

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20160216/local/malta-being-promoted-for-gay-travel.602639
Tuesday, February 16, 2016, 18:52 by Philip Leone-Ganado

Recent changes in the law have ensured more equal rights for LGBT people. However, the shift towards greater cultural acceptance has also had an unexpected side effect – positioning Malta as a destination for gay travel.

The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) has recently embarked on a campaign in the US and Canada promoting Malta as a “winter escape for the LGBT traveller”.

Malta’s progressive reputation is a selling point. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Malta Today: The rise of the pink pound

The economic and political influence of the gay lobby is on the rise in Malta and beyond.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/The-rise-of-pink-money-20130824
Sunday 25 August 2013 - 14:40 by Jean Pierre Cassar



Pink money is not some kind of new currency but it describes the growing purchasing power of the gay community and

Similarly, the pink vote is not a coloured voting ballot, but rather the voting rights of gays and lesbian and their growing political leverage.

Times: Vienna shoots for gay travel market

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130407/travel/Vienna-shoots-for-gay-travel-market.464749
Sunday, April 7, 2013 by Reuters

Vienna has joined a growing list of European cities seeking to attract lesbian and gay tourists who are expected to remain willing to spend on travel while other recession-hit travellers cut back.

City authorities in Vienna this month released a review of the Austrian capital’s gay and lesbian tourism strategy, deciding to focus on travellers interested in music, culture and history – and with money to spend.

Di-ve: LGBT leisure travel market set to reach USD181 billion

http://www.di-ve.com/news/lgbt-leisure-travel-market-set-reach-usd181-billion
9.11.12 Article By: di-ve.com news editorial@di-ve.com

New research released at the World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry, revealed that the global potential value of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) leisure travel market is set to reach a record US$181 billion in 2013.

The findings are based on the LGBT2020 research program from leading global LGBT marketing specialist Out Now Global http://www.outnowconsulting.com which measures consumer spend, purchasing habits and brand preferences across 22 countries.

The new data shows a 9.7% year-on-year growth in the LGBT travel market, up from US$165 billion in 2012, despite the on-going volatile economic climate, uneven recovery from the global financial crisis, and the on-going Eurozone crisis.

The USA market tops the league at US$52.3 billion, followed by Brazil (US$22.9 billion) and Japan (US$18.5 billion). Europe is a more important LGBT market than the USA with the total value of the eight most important markets in Europe being significantly larger than the US market (US$58.3 billion) and Latin America's most important three markets account for an additionalUS$36.0 billion).

Announcing the figures, Out Now Global CEO Ian Johnson said: “A number of different factors continue to drive growth in this sector. Many LGBT people have grown up experiencing things a bit tougher than most, so a difficult economy, and working to keep things moving in tough times, including our travel plans, is part of the modus operandi for many of us.

“Like many people, LGBT consumers are finding the cost of living tough and some are working two or more jobs to keep things together, but with dramatically fewer households with children, travel remains a viable option for more LGBT travellers and one that is still within their household budget.

Turkey and Israel were added to the LGBT 2020 survey for the first time this year. The new Turkey research data shows that this new market accounts for more than US$5.1 billion in annual tourism spending. Israel adds another US$1.1 billion to the annual value of LGBT tourism spending globally.

“Having identified a remarkably resilient potential customer base for 2013, now is the time for industry operators to really step up a gear and work to strengthen their market position,” said Ian Johnson, “To facilitate this process in a cost effective and genuine way, Out Now has developed a suite of new services to help the industry make that important step change.”

ADN: Equal rights for gays will improve economy

http://www.adn.com/opinion/compass/story/916563.html

30.8.9 by Bob Poe

I support equal rights for all people. And I support banning discrimination in Anchorage due solely to someone's sexual orientation. I support a comprehensive equal rights ordinance because it's the right thing to do, period.

But if doing the right thing isn't a compelling enough reason, here is an economic reason.

In the best-selling book, "The Rise of the Creative Class," Richard Florida points out successful, growing communities are places accepting of gay and lesbian people. Florida, originally a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, has been studying successful and unsuccessful communities throughout his career. He combined his work with that of Gary Gates from UCLA, who co-authored the Gay and Lesbian Atlas. Their combined work developed a "gay index" that was strongly correlated with economically successful and growing communities. They weren't really looking to prove this concept; it is simply what the data showed.

They believe the more accepting a community is to new ideas, alternative lifestyles, new art and music, the more accepting it will be to the entrepreneurial geeks who have created companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and hundreds of other businesses. And communities that are open to progressive ways of thinking are measurably more attractive to the smart, well-educated workforce, particularly women. The logic goes, if a place is safe for gay men, it is a safe place for women.

But you might say, Silicon Valley/San Francisco (gay index #1) and Seattle (gay index #2) would naturally attract high-tech companies. Not really. It was Stanford University that probably had the most to do with Silicon Valley becoming a high-tech center. And Seattle only really began to evolve in the last 15 years, and Microsoft is primarily in Seattle because Bill Gates was from there. But critical to the success of these areas was the ability to attract a creative and talented workforce.

The research Florida and Gates did doesn't indicate that a community decided to be open minded and then the economic progress flowed in, but it does show progressive communities attract talent and creativity, two things Anchorage and Alaska could use plenty more of. In contrast, Pittsburgh, the home of Carnegie Mellon University, is the least gay-friendly community. The city still produces smart, creative people through its many great universities, but they quickly lose these graduates to other more attractive communities. Others near the bottom include Detroit, Birmingham and Oklahoma City.

Through the Alaska Scholars Program, in large part, the University of Alaska is now retaining Alaska's best and brightest and by doing so is raising the quality of a UA degree significantly. Just this year, a UAA student became a Marshall Scholar, just one of 40 in the country. We need to be able to keep these graduates here and attract others from communities that don't offer what Anchorage can.

Anchorage is becoming a real city, perhaps even destined to be the next great West Coast city, but it needs to guard against the attitudes that would hold us back. Anchorage would not be what it is today without the Performing Arts Center, the First Friday art gallery walk, a variety of music venues, Saturday Market, the Dena'ina Center, City Market, or even a downtown disc golf course. All of these are examples of things that make a city better, one that is growing. Being open to new ideas, different lifestyles, new and different ways to embrace life is important to a bright future here. But to get there we need the right attitude first.

I support equal rights for every person because it is the right thing to do. I also support this ordinance because it can help Anchorage attract the talented people it will need to build its future as a great place to live and work for all of us.

Independent UK: How a gay Spanish mayor brought life back to his village

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/how-a-gay-spanish-mayor-brought-life-back-to-his-village-859118.html

By Elizabeth Nash in Campillo de Ranas
Thursday, 3 July 2008

As you push aside the foliage and descend the stone steps to Francisco Maroto's house, a small rainbow-striped sticker by the door signals the revolution achieved in this tiny village north-east of Madrid.

From the Spanish capital, you drive 78 miles across parched meseta and reach a verdant valley overshadowed by the Ocejon mountain, where slate-roofed houses dot the hillsides around Campillo de Ranas. Some are new, others restored, but they exude a prosperity rare among villages hereabouts, most of which are dying.

Mr Maroto, 44, Campillo's Socialist mayor, has bucked the trend of rural depopulation by promoting his village as a venue for weddings, particularly gay weddings.

Three years ago this week, Spain's Socialist government passed a same-sex marriage law giving gay couples the same legal rights as heterosexuals. The ground-breaking measure broke the stereotype of Spain as a macho, Catholic nation. Since then 5,243 gay marriages have taken place in Spain, 3,675 between men and 1,568 between women. That's more than 33 gay marriages a week, quite an advance for a country where 30 years ago homosexuals faced jail.

Before 2005 no one had married in Campillo de Ranas for 35 years. Since 2005 Mr Maroto has conducted more than 100 weddings, 32 of them gay.

"At first my idea was to offer people the chance to get away from priests, and marry in beautiful, rural surroundings in a warm, civil ceremony.

"Then, when same-sex marriage became legal, many mayors refused to carry out homosexual weddings, but I said 'I am gay and I'll promote gay weddings on principle'," he says.

That political gesture grew into a development opportunity as Campillo's fame spread as a venue for original and relaxed, even outrageous, weddings. Mr Maroto has presided over a medieval-costumed wedding and a Lord of the Rings-themed wedding (dressed as Gandalf).

Mr Maroto is not at home, but gladhanding runners in a half-marathon in the Ocejon foothills. Locals from seven hamlets in the municipality of Campillo (population 250) down beer and chorizo from trestles after a yomp across the hills.

"This village was seriously ill, dying, but now people are coming to live here," says Fernando Barbero, 58, a hillclimber and trade unionist. "It's changed a lot. It used to be elitist, the local strongman decided everything. Now it's more consensual. I completely approve our option for gay weddings. Even conservatives accept it as something normal, and a way to bring life back to the village."

Juana Hombrados, 82, a lifelong shepherd, beams as she joins her fitter neighbours. "Gay people have as much right to set up home and be happy as everyone else," she says. "I only became aware of homosexuals when my daughter Pilar started working for a fashion designer. Then I got to know Paco [Francisco Maroto] because he has sheep, and we coincided on the hillside."

Mrs Hombrados's daughter Pilar Peinado is deputy mayor, and conducted the wedding last month of Mr Maroto and his partner of 14 years, Quique Rodriguez.

Mr Maroto says: "I realised this could be a way to develop the village. Restaurants created wedding feasts for 200 guests. Guest houses booked out," he says. He has re-roofed Campillo's church, re-opened the school after 30 years, and introduced mobile phone coverage. Weddings have saved his village.

Pink News: Gay marriage worth millions to California economy

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7877.html
By Jane Rochstad Lim • June 9, 2008

Same-sex marriage could potentially boost California's deflating
economy by $683.6 million (£345m) over the next three years, an
analysis by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law has claimed.

The Institute based their predictions on the experiences of
Massachusetts, which legalised gay marriage in 2004.

Last month the California state Supreme Court ruled that gay and
lesbian couples are entitled to civil marriage.

The court rejected a request to delay their decision until November,
when a ballot proposition on the issue will be put to California
voters on the same day as the US Presidential and Congress elections.

The court specified that the decision will become final on June 16th,
2008, at 5pm.

The Institute's report said that approximately 51,320 of California's
same-sex couples would want to marry and another 68,000 out-of-state
couples are likely to travel there to tie the knot.

The direct spending by the newlyweds would create and sustain more
than 2,178 jobs in California, particularly in the travel-related
business.

"In a tough economic climate, California businesses are in a unique
position to reap the wedding windfall, bringing millions of additional
dollars in revenue to state businesses," explains economist M.V. Lee
Badgett, co-author of the study and research director of The Williams
Institute.

The positive effect of same-sex marriages is also echoed by talk show
host Jay Leno.
.
"What's so funny to me is how people miss out on the economic benefits
just in terms of catering and flowers and planning," he said at an
event in Hollywood last week.

"The businesses that cater to [the gay community] do very well. So it
just seems like common sense."

The California state government should also see increased revenues.

The Williams Institute estimates that same-sex couple spending on
weddings and tourism will generate more than $64 million in revenue
for the state and local governments over the next three years.

$55million will be generated in sales and occupancy tax revenues and
$8.8 million in marriage licence fees for California's counties.

"The fiscal effects of same-sex marriage will reverberate well beyond
City Hall, helping to balance the state budget," said study co-author
Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute.

L-importanza ta' L-Ewro Roza

€ Pink Euro €

Studji juru li koppji gay jaqaw taht il-kategorija ta' Double-Income-No-Kids.
Dawn it-tip ta'koppji jonfqu flushom b'mod differenti minn koppji ohrajn, u studji juru li aktar jonfqu flus fl-ivvjaggar.

Peres li Malta tghix fuq it-turizmu, hu importanti hafna li ma nissottovalutawx din li kategorija ta' nies specjalment, meta f'Malta irridu inzidu t-turizmu fl-istagunijiet off-peak.

Pajjizi ohrajn li jghixu fuq it-turizmu, bhall-Awstria fehmu din u fl-ufficji tat-turizmu tal-bliet issib kategorija ta' brochures ghal nies gay.

Hawn Malta meta kont membru tal-kumitat ta' Malta Gay Rights Movement, konna qed norganizzaw LGBT film festival u meta mort fl-ufficju tat-turisti l-Belt Valletta biex naghtihom il-leaflets biex ipogguhom fuq l-ixkaffa kulhadd baqa iccassat li jista' ikun hemm gay film festival li, iva fil-films ikollok nies gay. Il-mara quddiemi baqghet ixxukkjata u wara li kellha icempel lis-supervisor u mbaghad nahseb lid-direttur, qtajt qalbi u tlaqt il-barra.

Il-gays m'humiex pjaga fuq il-pajjiz. Ghandhom hafna x'joffru. M'ghandiex nibzghu minnhom, inkeccuhom mill-pajjiz jew ingeghulhom jghixu f'gidba.

ISSA wasal iz-zmien ghall-bidla. M'ghandniex nitilfu dan ic-cans ghax ic-cans li jmiss jigi hames snin ohra. Ivvota lil min mhux se jghaddik biz-zmien. Ivvota 1 Alternattiva Demokratika.

Dr. Ing. Patrick Attard

Related links:

The Pink Pound

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_pound

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/142998.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/jan/23/money.gayrights