The number of gay tourists from the United States coming to Vancouver is dropping, according to San Francisco-based gay research organization Community Marketing Inc. (CMI).
And while more American gay tourists visited Vancouver than any other Canadian city in 2008, the numbers have been dropping across the board, including Toronto and Montreal, CMI’s senior research director David Paisley told Business in Vancouver. CMI’s surveys ask American gay respondents what cities they have visited in the past year and stayed at least one night in a hotel.
“There was a huge change in the dollar between 2006-07 and now so Canada has become less of a value proposition,” Paisley said. “Canada was also on a great public relations run because it was one of the first countries to legalize same-sex marriage.”
Same-sex marriage was legalized across Canada in 2005.
Cuts to marketing efforts may have played a role as well.
The Canadian Tourism Commission’s budget was cut 41% between 2009 and 2013, spurring the Vancouver-based agency to focus on other international markets and leave U.S. advertising campaigns to the provinces. (See “Tourism cuts spark calls for new funding formula” January 15-21, Business in Vancouver).
“International competition is greater today than it was six years ago,” Paisley said. “Now all of South America and Mexico is heavily promoting to the gay market.”
