As we finalize preparations for our 35th Anniversary Global Convention (9-12 May), every day in headquarters brings exciting new developments. Here are the recent additions you won't want to miss:
This just in! We are pleased to confer our prestigious Pinnacle Award for 2018 to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau.
More special guests have been added to Voyage, the IGLTA Foundation fundraiser 11 May at the Fairmont Royal York, including cast members from the American-Canadian production of Queer as Folk (Sharon Gless, Gale Harold, Scott Lowell and Peter Paige)!
Our closing party, presented by 2019 convention host NYC & Company, will be held at Toronto's majestic castle, Casa Loma.
IGLTA Foundation volunteer/educational activities are now set for Saturday afternoon, 12 May. This is your chance to give back to our host city. Click here for details.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
The IGLTA Foundation is excited to participate in Give OUT Day, 19 April, the only US-based, national day of giving for the LGBTQ community. The IGLTA Foundation is the public charity subsidiary of IGLTA and supports global LGBTQ tourism through leadership, education and research. Will you support the IGLTA Foundation with a small donation to help advance equality for LGBTQ travelers around the world? Please click here to donate — even US$10 or $20 helps!
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
IGLTA member Citizen Jones Travel won a free half-page ad in our 35th Anniversary Convention Journal. The winner was selected in a random drawing from all conference registrations received as of 10 April. The last date to book an ad in the Journal is 23 April.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
Please join us in supporting the small business members of IGLTA, such as Fiat Luxe Travel, who will take care of every aspect of your trip, from hotel arrangements to airfare to meals; and Kukuli Lodge Bed & Breakfast, a traditional family house, centrally located just ten minutes from the historic center of Cusco, Peru.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
Julià Travel teams up with Rainbow Gay Tours to create a company dedicated to LGBT tourism
Julià Travel, the receptive tourism division of Grupo Julià, and the travel agency specializing in LGBT tourism Rainbow Gay Tours have created the Rainbow Tours joint venture, which will specialize in this group. As reported in a statement Monday, the new company, which will involve an investment of 300,000 euros over the next five years, aims to consolidate in Barcelona and strengthen its offer in other cities where it has already started its activity, such as Madrid, Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, London, Berlin and Rome, in most of which Julià Travel is already present.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
China's popular Weibo microblogging platform on 16 April reversed a decision to block "homosexual" content, in an unusual concession to a storm of online protest at the weekend.
Sina Weibo said in a statement 13 April it had begun a three-month-long "clean-up campaign" to remove "illegal" content, including "manga and videos with pornographic implications, promoting violence or (related to) homosexuality."
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
In February, Bermuda made world headlines when it became the first nation in the world to repeal same-sex marriage. Just nine months after the British territory first legalized same-sex marriage, Governor John Rankin signed the Domestic Partnership Act (DPA) which revoked marriage rights for same-sex couples. The Rainbow Alliance of Bermuda decried the law, saying that it created "separate-but-equal status under the law."
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
Puerto Vallarta Gay Pride will bring a new level of camp to the city's celebration of the 100th anniversary of its founding with a "100 Reasons to Celebrate" theme, which will culminate on Saturday, 26 May with a grand nighttime shindig worthy of any small-town summer carnival — if that carnival featured half-naked "go-go boys" and drag queens galore.
Taking place in Puerto Vallarta from 20-27 May, Vallarta Pride has grown yearly, with its 2017 edition attracting more than 17,000 visitors.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
We now know that LGBTQ travelers spend almost $100 billion on travel in the US alone, thanks to Grindr.
An official survey carried out by the dating app has found that LGBTQ consumers spend more than $5 trillion globally, and $965 billion in the US, with $100 billion of that going on travel. Meanwhile, 40 percent of Grindr's LGBTQ millennials travel every quarter for fun, while 24 percent travel monthly.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
Being gay means being you are a criminal. There 400 million of these criminals, some may face death. These criminals are in countries, where LGBT is a crime. The crime is loving a same-sex partner. Tourists travel to those countries and some of these tourists love same sex partner and may become criminals.
For example, the Uganda's government has vowed to bring back a bill that would punish homosexuality and the promotion of LGBTI issues with jail time.
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, who wished to pass a "Kill The Gays" bill in 2014, has called on legislators to pass a new law. Homosexuality is already punishable by up to seven years.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
Unfortunately, the end of a long journey has arrived for one of Vancouver's LGBT nightlife institutions. In a statement released today 14 April, the Odyssey Bar and Nightclub announced that its last day will be 30 June. The closure will occur a month before Vancouver Pride Week, which takes place prior to the Vancouver Pride parade on 5 August.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
According to the latest polls in the 2018 presidential campaign, the LGBT community in Brazil is about to start worrying about their future because all roads lead to at a least a deep sense of uncertainty.
As soon as the year began in Brazil, the polls started to measure the political climate for this election year. Still measuring possible candidates, instead of confirmed ones, it seemed like anyone would have a shot at becoming the country's next president: Former candidates, prominent politicians and even television personalities.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
Voters in Alaska's largest city have become the first in the U.S. to defeat a so-called bathroom bill referendum that asked them to require people to use public bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender at birth.
Anchorage voters turned down a proposition that would have repealed part of a city ordinance that allowed people to use public bathroom and locker rooms according to their gender identity and would have instead required them to use those facilities according to their gender at birth.
18 Apr 2018 15:44:03 CDT
