Out Now Global LGBT Travel Industry Survey & WTM London LGBT Village
First Global LGBT Travel Industry Survey Uncovers Missed Opportunities to Target USD$202 Billion Market
– New research shows, for the first time, weaknesses – and opportunities – confronting the travel industry as it tries to better understand and target the important LGBT travel market
– World Travel Market London and ONBC – Out Now Business Class – announce launch of 2016 Official LGBT Village
January 19, 2016 – LONDON — (WTM London/OUTNOW) — The first tourism industry study of its kind has revealed that a majority of tourism businesses have now considered targeting the lucrative market comprised of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) travellers however the research also uncovers some substantial industry missteps.
Areas the industry is doing badly with include not understanding the potential of the market to add revenues to their bottom line as well as certain misplaced fears about risks in engaging with this market. The new research has revealed that these issues are at present unnecessarily limiting industry outcomes in pursuing LGBT travel.
The ‘Out Now Global LGBT Travel Industry Survey’ (Out Now, 2016) http://BetterLGBT.com undertook research from May to November 2015 and was implemented in partnership with World Travel Market London. A total of 661 respondents from more than 90 countries completed the survey. Initial findings were previewed by Out Now to delegates in November at the LGBT Masterclass during WTM London. The full report is released today.
In announcing key findings, Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now said the research contains several wake-up calls for the travel industry: “Out Now and WTM London have pioneered LGBT travel market development together for 12 years now and we are pleased to be presenting this first ever measurement of key issues driving the industry in engaging with this important market. For the first time we see clearly the scale of the opportunity and the tactical approaches which respondents indicate lead to market success and increased revenues with LGBT customers. To unlock the potential available the study shows the industry clearly needs to do more to educate their own staff through training, such as the http://Learn.LGBT education platform, as well as allocate proper levels of funding in line with the total spend which this market now accounts for in the tourism sector. There remains a lot of untapped potential for those industry members that make the effort to get it right. LGBT people reward companies that understand and meet their needs as customers through substantial levels of consumer loyalty – and revenues.”
Key study findings include:
– Two out of three (66%) organisations responding have considered targeting the LGBT market.
– More than half (57%) have invested some resources (either, time, money or in-kind) to develop the market.
– Most though (59%) have spent under USD$10,000 to date targeting the LGBT market.
– Most common activities undertaken include: reviewing published media coverage on LGBT travel research, advertising in LGBT media, using social media.
– 58% of respondents that undertook targeted marketing saw increased LGBT customer bookings as a direct result.
– 90% of respondents reported positive outcomes from targeting the market.
– More than one in five (21%) respondents say they made mistakes when they first targeted the group. These included: mistakenly using stereotypes, making campaigns too focused on gay men, and including sexual imagery or rainbows in their creative.
– 10% of respondents are confident LGBT travel directly accounts for more than USD$250,000 annual revenues to their business with a further 32% not sure of the actual amount or preferring not to answer.
Simon Press, Senior exhibition director, World Travel Market London also announced the 2016 launch of the Official LGBT Village at WTM London, with hosting partner ONBC http://OutNowBusinessClass.com returning for a fifth year.
“LGBT trade show exhibition spaces are now becoming more common, so WTM London is pleased that the Official LGBT Village by ONBC has grown every year with regular return exhibitors and taking larger floorspace each year,” says Press. “In 2016 the LGBT Village returns and we are pleased to be announcing our first exhibitors.”
Exhibitors already confirmed for 2016 include Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB http://www.sunny.org/lgbt who return for their fourth consecutive year at the LGBT Village as well as Out Now Global http://outnowconsulting.com who connect organisations to LGBT people globally through a suite of targeted LGBT business solutions.
Copies of the full ‘Out Now Global LGBT Travel Industry Survey’ are free to download at http://BetterLGBT.com
The official LGBT Village presented by ONBC returns for its fifth year at London World Travel Market, the leading travel show for the global travel industry, from November 7 to 9, 2016 at ExCel Centre London.
The LGBT Village has profiled many leading travel brands as exhibitors since 2012 including: VisitMexico, visitBerlin, Marketing Manchester, Ku Group, Millivres Prowler, Two Bad Tourists, Visit Helsinki, Stockholm Visitors Board and many more.
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MORE INFORMATION
Press contact: Paul Nelson, WTM
0208910 7032
LGBT Village Sales: Sam Fullalove, WTM
020 8910 7798
About World Travel Market London
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry.
Almost 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press, embark on ExCeL – London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM.
WTM London is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals. WTM London will generate around £2.5 billion of travel industry contracts.
WTM London is part of Reed Travel Exhibition’s World Travel Market events, which also includes Arabian Travel Market, World Travel Market Latin America and World Travel Market Africa. www.wtmworld.com
Reed Travel Exhibitions
Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry. Its wide-ranging portfolio of events around the globe covers leisure travel, luxury travel, meetings, incentives and business travel, as well as golf, ski and spa travel.
RTE, which organises more than 22 events around the world, includes three divisions; World Travel Market, IBTM Events and International Luxury Travel Market.
RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions.
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organiser, with over 500 events in 43 countries. In 2014 Reed brought together over seven million event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organised by 41 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events. It is part of the RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries.
About Out Now
Out Now has been named as one of the ‘Top 10 Diversity Consultants’ in the world by the Global Diversity List supported by The Economist. Established in 1992, Out Now in 2016 celebrates its 25th year of delivering leading-edge insights and business solutions to better understand and meet the needs of LGBT people right across the world. Out Now’s corporate mantra is ‘LGBT spells people’ which recognises that what matters most to LGBT people is not marketing, research or PR, but actual understanding and solutions that help assist LGBT people to live better lives enjoying equal standing and respect – all over the world. With dedicated travel brands http://OutNowBusinessClass.com for B2B and http://Welcome.LGBT for B2C, as well as dedicated http://Learn.LGBT training – delivered both online and in management workshops – Out Now http://outnowconsulting.com provides complete LGBT travel marketing solutions for clients. Out Now Global has been relied upon by many of the world’s leading brands – including Hilton Hotels, TUI, German National Tourist Office, Lufthansa, VisitBritain, Turespaña, VisitMexico, IBM, Toyota, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, Citibank, Merck; and delivers a comprehensive range of tailored solutions focused on research, strategy, communications, networking and training. @outnowLGBT