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PROUD Experiences 2019 confirmed the power of the ‘pink economy’ and the importance for travel brands to make their offerings more inclusive for LGBTQ+ travellers.

Over 250 travel professionals from 31 countries attended the second edition which took place last month in New York City. More than 3,000 appointments took place over two days between suppliers and buyers from 10 countries within Europe, Latin America and North America. There were 94 exhibiting companies with new destinations and partners including Cuba, Hungary, Japan, Maldives, Monaco, Portugal and Switzerland – all representing travel brands from within their destination as well as the destinations themselves.

Highlight of the event was a series of Masterclasses covering topics that were designed to help the travel industry understand and grow their businesses to attract and support the LGBTQ+ traveller. 28 speakers presented topics about the needs of and how to attract centennials, families, gays, lesbians and transsexual, as well as black, white and Asian travellers.

Reed Travel Exhibitions’ award winning b2b travel and lifestyle event PROUD Experiences has confirmed that it will take place at the same venue, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge from 22 to 24 June 2020 – www.proudexperiences.com

Confirming the many positive responses from the industry to the event, Simon Mayle, Event Director said: “What has really come out of PROUD Experiences this year is a sense of unity in understanding how to help the travel industry become even more inclusive and diverse. We brought in a diverse range of speakers and we discussed why the LGBTQ+ market is so important, and how everyone attending could benefit in growing their own businesses as a result.”

Buyers to the event were supportive of its aims and objectives. “I am now more than ever determined and committed to develop a fair trade environment so our LGBTQ+ customers are super well attended as they should be, i.e. utterly well – and understand better who they are, be them traveling for two, alone, or with friends and children. I am really proud to have been one of PROUD Experiences’ hosted buyers and I look forward to further engagement with all partners, better revenue generation from the LGBTQ+ community, and higher client’s love factor”, said Jean-Pierre Soutric, Vice-President Strategic Partnerships, Grand Luxury Group.

Exhibitors also saw the event has an imperative for their business. “Great selection of buyers, great nationalities, great spread of locations and affiliations with different networks”, commented Karen Leger, Director of Global Luxury & Lifestyle Sales at InterContinental Hotels Group. “PROUD Experiences improves our training and our approach, which is very important with an industry that is going to keep evolving throughout the years. Speaking of, I found Masterclasses to be very informative and relevant, and I think each of them has hit the point as far as diversity, how do we embrace it even more and recognising some of our weaknesses and things that we didn’t even think about it before. I love that at PROUD Experiences we have an open environment where we can talk about these issues without any judgements.”

PROUD Experiences will return to 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge in New York City for its third edition, from 22 to 24 June 2020. Exhibitor applications are now open.

For further information, please visit www.proudexperiences.com