With research showing that LGBTQ+ people will be the first to return to travelling post-pandemic, The Queer Travel Guide series has been created to discuss all things travel in 2021 and also show how brands, products and services in the travel industry can and should include LGBTQ+ people in their marketing strategies.
Launching today, Thursday 8th April and hosted by James Barr, co-founders of Zoom Vacations, Bryan Herb and Joel Cabrera talk about how they started out, and how their own personal experiences of a destination are the foundation of organising their client’s travels. Focused on creating personal and luxury experiential gay tours to both gay-friendly destinations across the world, and non-gay-friendly countries as well, the podcast explores destinations from India to Egypt, Guatemala to Antarctica. On starting out Bryan and Joel said, “we realised there was either really budget and adventuring gay groups tours or really, really, high-end just for the sake of being high-end.”
When it comes to LGBTQ+ marketing, they suggest, “It has to be authentic. It can’t look like ‘we just want your money because you’re gay’, right? No! We want you here, you’re gonna be safe, and we want you here because you’re YOU.”
Zoom Vacations organise trips for LGBTQ+ people within traditionally non-gay destinations and “lay the groundwork so it is gay-friendly for us.” Herb and Cabrera continue, “We’re supporting the local businesses that are gay-friendly and we’re opening their eyes to the possibility of having gay travellers in this country so we’re looking at it at the grassroots level.”
Simon Mayle, Event Director, PROUD Experiences commented, “It’s a privilege to hear from the grassroots of travel and from two men who have created an award-winning gay luxury group travel business that helps the LGBTQ+ community navigate their way to great experiences. Some great anecdotes and advice in this episode – who would have known penguins are gay?! We also can’t wait to welcome them to our live event in New York later in the year.”
Previous episodes of PROUD On the Mic have featured Raquel Willis (activist, speaker and writer), Mark Fletcher (CEO of Manchester Pride), Ed Salvato (travel expert, author and lecturer), Shannon Knapp (President & CEO of Leading Hotels) and trans power couple, Jake and Hannah Graf – they are all available here: www.proudexperiences.com/podcast
PROUD Experiences will once again take place in New York, 8-10 November 2021. First launched in the UK back in 2018, PROUD is a ground-breaking event for the global travel industry focusing on a sector that is valued at some US$218billion.
PROUD Experiences is expected to continue its blueprint of a mixture of business sessions with appointments between buyers and suppliers, together with the masterclass sessions that allow all attendees to hear from industry experts, LGBTQ+ travellers and leading brands. Their personal stories, marketing best practices and case studies show how engaging with such a diverse community and maintaining loyalty will help businesses worldwide.
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