Dallas moves up in gay tourism rankings

Dallas has moved up two spots in the rankings and is now in a three-way tie as the 16th-most popular destination for LGBT travelers, according to the newly released 14th annual Gay & Lesbian Tourism Study by Community Marketing Inc. Dallas was alone at No. 18 last year. This year’s rankings show that 11 percent of the 4,726 LGBT people surveyed in the U.S. had traveled to Dallas in the last year and spent at least one night in a hotel. This tied Dallas with Denver and Phoenix at No. 16, and put us immediately behind Miami and Atlanta and immediately ahead of New Orleans. New York took the No. 1 spot at 32 percent, followed by San Francisco at 27 percent, Las Vegas at 26 percent, Chicago at 25 percent and Los Angeles/West Hollywood at 24 percent. Here are a few other trends from this year’s report:

1) Due to the deep recession, almost all destinations experienced a decrease in LGBT travel, except Washington D.C., which garnered higher numbers.
2) The rankings remain remarkably consistent from past years. A few destinations such as Seattle, however, did jump up in rankings.
3) The top seven LGBT destinations experienced the least decline in LGBT visitors, while other destinations experienced larger declines.
4) Overall, leisure travel declined slightly among LGBT travelers, but business travel and cruise travel saw steeper drop-offs.

4 Comments

Brian Stout on November 12, 2009 at 4:18 pm

Great. Now if only we could get 11% of the gays here in DFW down to Oak Lawn, we’d really be on the map. For a city our size, our gayborhood should be bustling every night of the week. But safety concerns and the desire to assimilate have kept this from happening. And we’re losing it as a result- businesses like the Seville apartments (clearly in Oak Lawn) now claim to be in “Uptown,” and even our Blockbuster couldn’t stay in business. For all the gays in this city, this is unacceptable. I hope that the community will start taking an interest in saving this neighborhood and living here again, especially with all the renovations and new establishments popping up on Cedar Springs. We have the potential to move way up on this list of places people want to visit, but it starts with a deeper sense of pride right here at home.

Reader on November 15, 2009 at 12:42 am

Brian, everyone would love to see Cedar Springs thrive again.
One of the things that keeps me away is my concern for safety based on real conditions. Available on-site parking and bike racks provided by the businesses are severely lacking. The perception of criminal activity on Cedar Springs is overwhelming.
I think the Cedar Springs businesses could market to a much larger demographic. Their customer type is a very limit range of people. They don’t offer the appealing diversity we enjoy in many other neighborhoods in Dallas.
The businesses’ timing is not geared to travelers. For example the businesses held the pride parade after the traditional summer vacation months, and the Halloween street party was not held on Halloween but instead seven days too early this year.

Brian Stout on November 15, 2009 at 9:11 pm

Very true… These are all valid reasons why people aren’t overly motivated to live here.

www.Dallas-Gayborhood.com on November 16, 2009 at 10:02 am

Reader, I think you have some valid points.. Considering that S4 is the largest gay bar in the entire state of Texas, I would have thought that Cavin would have taken the time to erect a multi-level parking garage.
Funny enough, in Connecticut they have the Stamford Mall which is huge and a multi-level parking garage that you drive into, and put quarters or tokens or swak your bank card in this nifty thing that looks like a parking meeter at each spot.. The only employee they have to hire is a dude who rides around in a golf cart handing out tickets to those who have expired. You don’t pay the ticket, then the Stamford Police come after your ass.
When all this construction was going on here, I was surprised that the bar owners expected patrons to rely on the current situation which is very lame. You would think with all the fabulous technology that the world relies on each day they could have used their heads a little better instead of their assholes.
But alas, it would seem that there’s a tiny bit of greed going on here. The greed of Valet parking, the greed of high cover charges at the door, and the greed of expensive well drinks. Why should they worry about where these people who may have driven up to three hours to get here park? After all, they’re still the largest GLBT bar in Texas right?
Oh and let’s not forget the husband and wife who came out to dance one weekend and how the husband was shot and killed when he attempted to use the outside ATM across from Sue Ellens. But I suppose it’s a good way to insure you’ll have fast access to your trust fund if you invite mom and dad to go out dancing with you some night dontcha think?
Nahhhh, stay home.. come out on Halloween with the other thousands of lookie looos, and come out for Not-So-Gay Pride and let other fools get financially burdened and/or shot and killed instead.
In the meantime we’ll all hang out and hunt for hookups on MANSCAPE.Com instead of on the Bogus strip. Most people are either too terrified, or too upscale snobby, or artifical/plastic acting like the nelly character Ruby Rhod from the movie ‘The 5th Element’ to waste their precious time and speak to you.
Nuff Said…

Brian Stout on November 12, 2009 at 4:18 pm

Great. Now if only we could get 11% of the gays here in DFW down to Oak Lawn, we’d really be on the map. For a city our size, our gayborhood should be bustling every night of the week. But safety concerns and the desire to assimilate have kept this from happening. And we’re losing it as a result- businesses like the Seville apartments (clearly in Oak Lawn) now claim to be in “Uptown,” and even our Blockbuster couldn’t stay in business. For all the gays in this city, this is unacceptable. I hope that the community will start taking an interest in saving this neighborhood and living here again, especially with all the renovations and new establishments popping up on Cedar Springs. We have the potential to move way up on this list of places people want to visit, but it starts with a deeper sense of pride right here at home.
Reader on November 15, 2009 at 12:42 am

Brian, everyone would love to see Cedar Springs thrive again.
One of the things that keeps me away is my concern for safety based on real conditions. Available on-site parking and bike racks provided by the businesses are severely lacking. The perception of criminal activity on Cedar Springs is overwhelming.
I think the Cedar Springs businesses could market to a much larger demographic. Their customer type is a very limit range of people. They don’t offer the appealing diversity we enjoy in many other neighborhoods in Dallas.
The businesses’ timing is not geared to travelers. For example the businesses held the pride parade after the traditional summer vacation months, and the Halloween street party was not held on Halloween but instead seven days too early this year.
Brian Stout on November 15, 2009 at 9:11 pm

Very true… These are all valid reasons why people aren’t overly motivated to live here.
www.Dallas-Gayborhood.com on November 16, 2009 at 10:02 am

Reader, I think you have some valid points.. Considering that S4 is the largest gay bar in the entire state of Texas, I would have thought that Cavin would have taken the time to erect a multi-level parking garage.
Funny enough, in Connecticut they have the Stamford Mall which is huge and a multi-level parking garage that you drive into, and put quarters or tokens or swak your bank card in this nifty thing that looks like a parking meeter at each spot.. The only employee they have to hire is a dude who rides around in a golf cart handing out tickets to those who have expired. You don’t pay the ticket, then the Stamford Police come after your ass.
When all this construction was going on here, I was surprised that the bar owners expected patrons to rely on the current situation which is very lame. You would think with all the fabulous technology that the world relies on each day they could have used their heads a little better instead of their assholes.
But alas, it would seem that there’s a tiny bit of greed going on here. The greed of Valet parking, the greed of high cover charges at the door, and the greed of expensive well drinks. Why should they worry about where these people who may have driven up to three hours to get here park? After all, they’re still the largest GLBT bar in Texas right?
Oh and let’s not forget the husband and wife who came out to dance one weekend and how the husband was shot and killed when he attempted to use the outside ATM across from Sue Ellens. But I suppose it’s a good way to insure you’ll have fast access to your trust fund if you invite mom and dad to go out dancing with you some night dontcha think?
Nahhhh, stay home.. come out on Halloween with the other thousands of lookie looos, and come out for Not-So-Gay Pride and let other fools get financially burdened and/or shot and killed instead.
In the meantime we’ll all hang out and hunt for hookups on MANSCAPE.Com instead of on the Bogus strip. Most people are either too terrified, or too upscale snobby, or artifical/plastic acting like the nelly character Ruby Rhod from the movie ‘The 5th Element’ to waste their precious time and speak to you.
Nuff Said…