"I heard that!"
Posted on 06/16/2007 7:50:27 PM PDT by Heartofsong83
T.O. announces campaign to attract gay tourists toronto.ctv.ca
Tourism Toronto said Friday that it plans to launch an advertising campaign aimed at making the city a top destination for gay travellers from the U.S.
The campaign will focus on four major cities - New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It will include ads in gay restaurants, bars and local publications, as well as event sponsorships and other promotional activities.
"Toronto has things to offer all year round--we've got a number of festivals outside of Pride that we can market," said Bruce MacDonald of the Canadian Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
The ads are still being finalized, but CTV's John Musselman reported that one of them will read: "Just think--in Toronto, you would be the hot and sexy foreigner." The tag line will say "Toronto--as gay as it gets."
Tourism Toronto also established a new group to help with gay marketing that includes more than a dozen local community leaders. The association is also helping hotels in the city and region gain status as 'gay-friendly' establishments through Travel Gay Canada.
City councillor Kyle Rae said Toronto needs to sell itself to gay and lesbian travellers who have plenty of disposable income.
"Toronto has the sense of gateway, so if you come to Toronto you can go to Niagara Falls, you can go to the wine district, and you can go to Muskoka," Rae said.
Tourism officials increased its gay-targeting advertising budget by 50 per cent to $300,000. Business owners in Toronto's gay and lesbian village said it is money well spent.
"I think it's important to get more people to the city, there's a lot of disposable incomes...tourism is huge," said Jimmy Georgoulis with Fuzion restaurant.
"I think it's a great thing for this city to finally focus on this demographic," said Gerry Pergolesi, a bed and breakfast owner.
The new campaign is designed to market the entire city and surrounding region to gay travellers.
Recent research shows that U.S. gay travellers:
Travel more frequently - 98 per cent have taken at least one overnight trip in the last twelve months, compared with 72 per cent for heterosexual Americans; Stay longer - they stayed an average of 15 nights in hotels last year, compared with an average of about three nights for all U.S. travelers; Spend more - gay men spend $800 on average per trip, compared to $540 by non-gay travelers. More likely to be passport holders- 71 per cent of travelers who identify themselves as gay hold a valid passport, nearly three times the overall U.S. average of 24 per cent and; Travel throughout the year - With an average household income of $85,000 and an average age of 44, this market tends to travel throughout the year, not just during peak seasons. Tourism Toronto also announced Friday that city has won the bid to host the 2009 Annual Convention of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association.
With a report from CTV's John Musselman
Since they are targeting members of sexual fetish subculture, is it safe to call this “sex tourism”?
What does Toronto have that Thailand doesn’t?
When you don't have kids you can spend more on yourself.
Hey, I just got back from the Phillies game. They beat the Tigers in a pretty good game. Got a little too exciting at the end, though. I’ll be interested to see this no-hitter guy tomorrow.
>> The tag line will say “Toronto—as gay as it gets.”
Is Ann Coulter allowed to repeat that?
Prostitution is legal in Nevada but not in Vegas. Don't believe the hype.
Shoot, why not just make them all Canadian citizens.
How is this foolishness viewed from out west?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"I heard that!"
The gay agenda is not supported in those kind of places like it is in Toronto the Bad...
Not Canadian enough.
"Toronto--it's gay, eh!"
My house on Long Point/Port Rowan in Southern Ontario is about 2 hours by expressway to Toronto. Ballgames there are fun and the reataurants excellent and the Canadian Forces guest house on the lake a pleasant place to stay. It’s s damn shame to litter the town with this sort of promotion and its consequences.
Other cities will only bend over backward for you; we'll bend over forward.
They can travel more often, stay longer and spend more money because they have no wife or husband; no children to provide for, no real jobs requiring they be there 5 or 6 days a week. So.....
They can travel, go to gay bars, go to Adult Book Stores and spread HIV / AIDS virus; go back home wait a few tables, do a few hairstyles, or service their sugar daddy for hush money and take off again.
What a miserable, despicable, depressing life!!!
Won’t this rile up the Muslims?
As the home of the CBC, Showtime, Bravo, and the biggest queer parade in Canada, Toronto has ALWAYS been this country’s true Homosexual capital. Nothing new there.
Read the Globe & Mail editorials sometime, you’ll see what I mean.
Just as Buddhism and Jainism were reactions to/attempts to improve on Hinduism and its ethical system, Judaism historically was an "improvement" on paganism and the values of the marketplace or forum. The Jewish prophets brought the people moral and spiritual demands on their behavior as more pleasing to God.
This is just the old paganism of the forum, where everything is reduced to a single value -- transactionability in silver -- reasserting itself against Judeo-Christian morality.
I guess this explains the enthusiasm for homosexuality in the top ranks of the Republican Party, then.
"Big-tent Republicanism".
And here we've been so mean to axe-murderers, hit men, pederasts, and drug dealers for years and years. We don't deserve to exist. Oh, the ignominy.
</sarc>
I've been looking for a gateway to Muskoka.
You might want to approach from the north or east instead.
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