The mid-Hudson Valley will play host to the state”™s first-ever travel and tourism conference specifically for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
The Big Gay Hudson Valley”™s Gay & Lesbian Tourism Conference will be held in Poughkeepsie March 27. Patrick Decker, co-organizer of the conference, said same-sex marriage helped set the stage for the event.
New York state voted to make same-sex marriage legal in July 2011. Before passage of the legislation, state lawmakers predicted same-sex weddings could generate more than $200 million, but in New York City alone Mayor Michael Bloomberg said same-sex weddings brought in $259 million within the first year.
Big Gay Hudson Valley, an organization that works on behalf of the region”™s LGBT community, saw an opportunity. In September 2011, it hosted the first-ever gay and lesbian wedding expo.
“That”™s when this whole idea of a tourism conference started,” said Decker, co-organizer of the conference and co-founder of Big Gay Hudson Valley. “We threw a wedding showcase after the vote passed, and brought together caterers and DJs and companies who wanted to reach out to the gay community and congratulate them on the new law and also just say we”™re here.”
The success of that event, Decker said, opened the eyes of many businesses in the Hudson Valley who realized the niche market could translate into viable business opportunities. The LGBT market accounts for $55 billion in U.S. travel and tourism revenue. In the Hudson Valley, travel and tourism brings in $4.7 billion from all visitors.
Mary Vrba, executive director of Dutchess County Tourism, which is co-sponsoring the event, believes those numbers are the reason area businesses are starting to engage the LGBT community. “That market is one of the top markets in terms of having discretionary income for travel,” she said. “Now more than ever the Hudson Valley has some great places to market.” Vrba added her organization is a part of the conference because it wants to help businesses not only promote themselves but educate themselves about how to market to the LGBT community. She said the region also wants to see a 4 percent increase in visitors this year, and embracing gay and lesbian tourists can help it reach that goal.
Decker said more people who contact his website BigGayHudsonValley.com want to understand “the language and the fluency of this culture and this community.” So he said the conference will be mostly informative, with lectures and panel discussions designed to explore the interests of the community, and how best to promote a product, service or destination. “We”™ll also do case studies of businesses, regions, and even states that have successfully or unsuccessfully reached out to the gay community,” Decker said.
In the upper Hudson Valley, the city of Hudson has slowly emerged as a place where gay entrepreneurs have opened new businesses and the gay population has helped restore many of the city”™s historic houses in recent years.
Elsewhere, the village of Sharon Springs has become a destination site, according to OutTravel Magazine, promoting businesses like the Brickhouse Bed & Breakfast and the American Hotel.
“At the conference, we”™re going to be focusing on the success that Sharon Springs has had in recent years, and look at the city of Hudson as well as bigger regions like the Thousand Islands in northern New York,” Decker said. He added it”™s essential to take note of how those places have managed to leverage their assets and “successfully brand themselves as gay-friendly and become magnets for the gay dollar.” He said the event promises to open doors for businesses who want to continue grow with the evolving population in the Hudson Valley.
