LV labors to lure gay tourists

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LV labors to lure gay tourists

Experts say market is lucrative for businesses

By Richard N. Velotta
LAS VEGAS SUN

Is Las Vegas ready to embrace the gay traveler with open arms?

Tourism experts suggest there are financial rewards for cities that do,
and local diversity specialists say Las Vegas is getting better at
rolling out the welcome mat for the GLBT market -- gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgendered visitors.

"It all comes down to having good customer service skills," said Amy
Baker, marketing director of locally owned U.S. Rent-a-Car, a Las Vegas
company listed as being gay-friendly on major Internet sites for gay
audiences.

"If your company has a reputation that it is friendly to the market,
it's going to get out there," she said. "It's a huge word-of-mouth
network."

But Baker also cautioned that while some Las Vegas properties have a
good reputation for welcoming the GLBT traveler, the city itself has
some work to do if it wants to take advantage of what experts say is a
lucrative tourism market.

Punam Mathur, vice president of corporate diversity at MGM Mirage and a
member of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, says the gay marketplace
offers financial rewards for companies that approach it with
sensitivity.

"Same-sex couples generally have fewer children, have a higher level of
discretionary income and travel more than the average tourist," said
Mathur, who has made numerous presentations on her company's diversity
initiative.

"Ninety-seven percent of same-sex couples have taken a vacation in the
past 12 months compared with 64 percent of the general population," she
said. "And 56 percent of those couples have taken three or more
vacations in the last 12 months."

Planet Out Inc., which offers consumer services to a gay audience
through its planetoutinc.com and gay.com Internet sites, says the gay
and lesbian market segment has a per-capita buying power of $32,000 --
higher than Asian, black and Hispanic customers.

The company says the gay audience is extremely brand aware and brand
loyal with 87 percent of gays and lesbians highly likely to seek out
products that are marketed directly to them and 94 percent going out of
their way to patronize companies that market directly to them in gay
media.

That's one of the reasons why MGM Mirage's New York-New York property
decided to advertise its Cirque du Soleil show "Zumanity" in gay
publications circulated in the San Francisco area.

The show, considered one of Cirque du Soleil's edgiest, includes sensual
performances that some observers say appeal to a gay customer.

"Because these customers display the highest levels of product loyalty,
particularly to gay-friendly organizations, it was pretty compelling
stuff from our perspective," Mathur said. "(New York-New York) has been
been pretty pleased with the response they have received. California is
a key market for us and any way we can improve on that is important."

MGM Mirage's efforts haven't gone unnoticed. The Las Vegas Convention
and Visitors Authority recently named Mya Lake Reyes as its manager of
diversity marketing.

Reyes made a recent appearance before the Lambda Business & Professional
Association, an organization serving Southern Nevada's gay business
community.

She explained that the LVCVA is in the early phases of learning how to
best reach the gay customer. Based on her early research, Las Vegas
campaigns that have resonated with all tourists appear to have reached
the GLBT market as well.

She cited a study published in the gay publication Metro that Las Vegas
ranks as the No. 2 tourism destination in the nation behind New York
City. However, the study also says respondents called the Las Vegas gay
nightlife scene disappointing and that visitors would stay longer if
there was more gay appeal.

Still, 94 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with their
visit, 92 percent said they would return to Las Vegas and 93 percent
said they would recommend the destination to others.

But some tourism experts dispute the findings.

Las Vegas travel consultant Terry Wilsey of AAnswer on Travel said gay
nightclubs in Las Vegas do little to market themselves to tourists and
large resorts aren't doing everything they can to make themselves
gay-friendly.

"Everybody thinks the bar and entertainment offerings here are
underwhelming," Wilsey said. "There's simply not a lot of cooperation
among owners to promote themselves to the traveler."

Wilsey also believes the claims that gay travelers are big spenders are
exaggerated.

"The perception that all the gay markets are rich, party and love to
gamble is a misnomer," he said. "Yes, gay male couples and lesbians
frequently have dual incomes and no kids, but they're like everyone else
-- they're going to shop for the cheapest price and seek out dollar
value."

Wilsey said the biggest thing Las Vegas can do to become more
accommodating to the GLBT market is for resorts to train their
front-line help to be more sensitive.

An attendee at the recent Lambda luncheon who asked not to be identified
said when he first visited Las Vegas that a local resort lost his repeat
business when a desk clerk recoiled when he made a request for a single
bed in his room for his male partner and him.

"That body language was all it took for me," the man said. "I knew right
then I wouldn't be going back."

Wilsey said attitudes about gay relationships are changing for the
better in Nevada.

"After the Legislature decriminalized gay sex in Nevada, things started
changing quite a bit," Wilsey said.

In the mid-1990s, former Sen. Lori Lipman Brown led the effort to repeal
Nevada's consensual sex laws. Until that legislation was approved,
Wilsey said, resorts were in a position of catering to suspected or
known felons engaging in homosexual acts -- a position that could have
imperiled their gaming licenses.

With that legislation changed, resorts were allowed to host gay couples
without fear of losing their licenses, but they still had stigmas to
overcome. Wilsey believes that can be overcome with hospitality
training.

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