Pink City fast catching up with 'pink tourism'
TNN 6 January 2010, 05:45am IST Text Size: | <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topics.cms?query=Pink%20City> Pink City JAIPUR: While it still may be too early to corroborate, the 'Pink City' is certainly warming up to gay tourism though hoteliers refuse to be vocal about it. And most of the times, they come in groups with women who feel rather safe travelling in their company. So was it with Andrea (name changed) who came for the first time to Jaipur with his partner accompanied by woman friend from United Kingdom. While in UK, gay tourism is a 600 million pound industry, in India it is at a very nascent stage. The lesbian-gay community here has been largely keeping a low profile with very few who come out in the open, but it's gay men from overseas who are frequenting Jaipur on the Golden Triangle, Pushkar, Jaisalmer and Ranthambore. Catering to this new segment, tour operators are now adding custom-designed packages to their tour itineraries to avoid harassment and embarrassment, with customised trips involving gay-friendly chauffeurs and operators, private vehicles, a personal host, private specialised guides et al. Sources in the industry confirm that the sector has immense economic potential with double income, no kids (DINK) couples with high spending capacity. "Everyday, we have a couple or more either gay or lesbian partners over dinner. But they don't behave any different than normal people. In fact, they are far more empathetic," said an hotelier. According to experts, this is a market that's just waiting to be exploited in India. The section of the tourism industry that hopes to benefit from visits by homosexual tourists may well bring a turnover estimated at $2 trillion by 2012. "We should look at this high spending, eager to travel target market to promote India as a tourist destination. Those of us who travel to ITB and WTM (International Travel fairs) will know of the large size and high quality of the Gay & Lesbian Travel booth. A quarter of the visitors at these fairs can be seeing carrying the trade mark pink bag," said Himmat Anand, co-chairperson, FICCI tourism committee who strongly advocates promoting this segment. And practically it is really no different than targeting wildlife enthusiasts who want to visit the national parks or those who belong to the adventure segment and are interested in trekking the mountains and raft down our rapids. In reality, G&L (Gay and Lesbian) travel is no different from any other type of specialty travel, emphasises Himmat. "In the last decade, many countries have realised the potential of this fast-growing segment - the Gay and Lesbian market and have worked towards attracting it. I have spoken about this segment in the past and have advocated, without much success I must admit that India should also target these travellers, who are today growing in number and acceptance," said Himmat. Email: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay/post?postID=DCvNIbdTv_3_C5j5flK54H ZuyqMJgNC-L4S3BWR464eSfMgGEAMLax1OSqSI6REqIgVM3LQEejINlemMrw> modera...@gaybombay.in E Groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay http://groups.google.com/group/Gaybombay http://groups.google.com/group/GayIndia Public archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/gay_bombay%40yahoogroups.com/maillist.html Rss feed: http://www.mail-archive.com/gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com/maillist.xml GB Internet Radio at http://www.gaybombay.in/gbradio Web Sites: www.gaybombay.in www.gayindia.org Orkut: http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile?uid=15084918632470824129 Blogs: http://gaybombay.blogspot.com http://gaybombay.wordpress.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/gaybombay http://twitter.com/gayindia Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gaybombay http://www.facebook.com/gayindia
