09:14 PM PST on Thursday, April 1, 2004

By kgw.com and AP Staff

The travel industry, already excited about the growing niche of gay tourism, hopes the recent surge in same-sex marriage translates into a new travel segment: gay honeymoons.

Laurel Ladwig, middle, and Trina Altman, left, both from Albuquerque, N.M., are married by marriage celebrant Frodo Okulam, right, at Waterfront Park in Portland. (AP Photo)

In the wake of Portland and a handful of other cities' granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples, merchants catering to gay couples have seen a spike in business, as limousine services, photographers and vacation locations try to attract the dollars being spent by gay couples.

Gay marriage has provided "an economic boom" to Portland as gay couples and their families fly in for weddings, said Joe D'Alessandro, president of the Portland Oregon Visitors Association.

"As this continues, people are planning receptions and much more formal weddings," he said. "As it matures, it becomes an even greater economic boost."

The travel industry is embracing the new segment nationwide, from Portland, where same-sex couples can get a marriage license, to Pennsylvania, where couples are holding commitment ceremonies. Tour operators in several states have set up special rates for gay honeymooners.

Gayweddings.com, an advertising portal for wedding resources and vacation getaways, has seen its number of advertisers increase fourfold since a November court ruling in Massachusetts that will allow gay couples to marry in mid-May.

"It's been a big boom," said K.C. David, president of the Web site, which has been online since 2000.

The Bucks County Conference and Visitors Bureau in suburban Philadelphia had a booth at the Same Sex Wedding Expo held in New York last month, whose exhibitors included travel planners and hotels. Bucks County even has a dedicated gay Web site: www.gaybuckscounty.com.

"It's definitely a market that has a lot of potential for us," said Keith Toler, executive director of the Bucks County tourism bureau.

How same-sex marriage might increase gay tourism was a hot topic last week at the fifth annual International Conference on Gay and Lesbian Tourism in West Hollywood, Calif., said conference attendee Jeff Guaracino, of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp.

Regional tourism bureaus and companies like Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Avis attended the convention to see how they can attract business from gay tourism, which Guaracino said is in its "infancy stage." He said gay honeymooners are a "a niche within a niche."

"Destinations are wrestling with this new market and new opportunity," he said.

Gay travelers spend $54 billion a year, according to an analysis by Community Marketing Inc., a firm that monitors gay tourism and which hosted last week's international gay and lesbian tourism seminar.

The gay travel market is particularly lucrative because gays tend to have more disposable income and a greater propensity for travel than non-gays, according to Community Marketing.

Philadelphia, which launched a gay campaign last fall using the slogan "Get your history straight, and your nightlife gay," is now producing a commercial targeting gays.

That commercial will be the first by a city to target a gay audience, said Mike Wilke, executive director of the Commercial Closet Association, a nonprofit group that tracks gay representation in ads.

The commercial — combined with an increase in gay print advertisements from places like Key West, Fla., and Provincetown, Mass., the last several years — shows that awareness and acceptance of gays has reached a "critical mass," Wilke said.

"It's interesting that (the commercial) is coming from Philadelphia, which most people don't consider the gayest place," Wilke said.

Avis, which had a local representative at the California convention last week, has been courting gay travelers for years, said spokesman Ted Deutsch.

"We see the gay and lesbian market as significant in size and very brand loyal," he said. "And we believe in serving as many customers as possible."