movieguy Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 Gay Friendly Campaign Reaps Big Reward For Philadelphia by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff Posted: August 17, 2005 1:00 pm ET (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) An advertising campaign that sells Philadelphia to gay and lesbian travelers has reaped huge benefits for the city of brotherly love. The city's tourism department has found that for every dollar spent in the ad campaign gays spent $153 on hotels, shots and other services in Philadelphia. "We were surprised to learn that gay overnight visitors spend nearly double that of our general overnight visitors, $233 compared to $101 respectively," said Deborah Diamond, the research director for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. The 14-month old ad campaign cost $1 million and appeared in LGBT newspapers and websites nationwide. The research shows that as a result of the campaign gay travelers spent 30 percent more than they did before the effort, up from $179 per day in 2003 to $233 a day in 2004. It also shows that gay travelers are more likely to be younger the the average visitor to the city and that they tend to travel with partners rather than with friends In addition, gay men are staying longer in Philadelphia - on average 2.4 nights- while lesbians are staying for a shorter period of time - just 1.8 nights. The study was prepared in conjunction with Community Marketing, Inc., a San Francisco company that specializes in helping communities target the gay community. "Gay and lesbian travel continues to be a huge growth opportunity for destinations around the world in the leisure, group meeting and convention areas of the tourism industry," said Thomas Roth, Community Marketing's president. Gay travelers spend $54 billion a year in the United States on travel. ©365Gay.com 2005 links Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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