11th October, 2011
India Climbs to Claim Top Spot in LGBT Travellers’ Must-Visit List
Tourism and hospitality professionals from across India and throughout Asia will convene in New Delhi on 28 November, for Community Marketing’s 1st Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism.
India was selected to host the 1st Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism due to its recent emergence on the global “gay map,” resulting from the cancellation of Section 377 banning same-gender relations.
Symposium organiser Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI), founded in 1992, is the world’s leading LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) tourism research, communications and marketing agency. Recent research among 3,865 American LGBT consumers conducted by CMI demonstrated the pent-up demand for visiting India.
- When past LGBT visitors to India were asked if they would return, over 80% indicated, “Yes.”
- Culture, history, temples/religion/spirituality and cuisine are the top activities and interests
- 35% of past LGBT visitors to India had been there multiple times.
“The research found that among gay men, India ranks as the #2 desired adventure/cultural destination just behind Thailand, but ahead of China, South Africa and Japan,” said Thomas Roth, Founder and President of Community Marketing. India is the #1 desired destination from this list among lesbians surveyed. At the Symposium, Mr. Roth will present CMI’s latest research findings and trends affecting the future of gay tourism and hospitality.
“The Symposium and the LGBT Journalist Tour are dreams come true for me,” said Mr. Roth. “I have visited India about 15 times since 1980, exploring its diversity from Kanyakumari to Gangtok, from Kolkata to Mumbai, to enjoy the people, cultures and arts of this wondrous country. With the elimination of Section 377 and the new emergence of the LGBT communities of India, I can now bring my LGBT tourism marketing skills together with my passion for India.”


