All Rights Reserved. In contrast to East European cities, West European cities have increasingly targeted gay and lesbian travelers as part of their tourism campaigns. In order to exemplarily analyze the potential of international gay tourism for Budapest, nineteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews with non-Hungarian gay travelers, about their motivation to come and their experiences, were conducted in different gay establishments in the city.
Article Outline 1. Introduction 2. Travel Motivations of Gay Tourists 3. The Actual Situation in Budapest 4. Methodology 5. Results 6. Introduction Gay and lesbian tourism is an expanding niche market segment gaining in importance today, especially in western societies[].
The travel destinations offered are mainly beaches and western cities[], and the offers are often related to special events like gay pride parades or gay sports events[]. The continuing growth of this niche gay market segment is, and was, supported by social attitude changes towards gays and lesbians over the past years and decades in the western countries[3]. On the other hand this development can also be interpreted as an ongoing separation of heterosexual and homosexual travel destinations that is due to non-accepting and non-inclusive climates for homosexual travelers in many tourist destinations[10].
Even though for lesbian and gay tourists it is important to feel welcome and accepted, when their hosts know about their sexual orientation[12] one reason for welcoming them is merely their assumed purchasing power[13].
Although on average equally qualified gays, and to a minor degree lesbians, earn less than heterosexual employees[] gays and lesbians seem to have more disposable income and a greater propensity for travelling[4, ]. Gay men especially tend to travel more often than heterosexual men, and tend to favor more luxurious and gay-oriented places[3, 20, 22].
