Switzerland pink

The Real Deal, Or Another Case Of Pinkwashing?

No one likes to be told his/her business is considered trivial.  Can you imagine walking into Cartier or Bulgari and being told, "You're not valuable to us as a customer"? 

Tourism entities making such declarations run a very real risk of losing a market segment deemed dispensable and having those travellers go elsewhere, perhaps never to return as they discover what the competition offers.  In the case of Switzerland Tourism, though, one has to wonder why a country that has long wooed the LGBT market in other countries with beautifully produced brochures and one of the best tourism-office website pages dedicated to LGBT travellers does not court Australians with the same fervour.  After hosting a successful EuroPride 2009 that greatly increased Zurich's and Switzerland's profile as one of the most gay-welcoming destinations in the world, it would seem natural to continue to sew the dress after cutting the pattern.  In Switzerland Tourism's other markets, cultivation of the LGBT market continues apace, with gay-specific ads and even gay-specific famils the norm.  Not insignificantly, Zurich has been selected to host the 2nd European Symposium On Gay & Lesbian Tourism coming up on 17 September.

Switzerland Tourism's position is doubly disappointing given that it has seen arrivals from Australia rise markedly in recent years and only this year reopened an office in Australia after a substantial absence.  According to Switzerland Tourism own information, Australians account for a quarter of a million arrivals each year and figure among Switzerland's top ten inbound markets; that's quite a statement on Australian interest in the country. 

With our high dollar and high number of overseas visitors, Australia continues to punch above its weight class on tourism's world stage.  LGBT travellers are often considered market leaders and trendsetters; how can any country's tourism office say this segment is not of primary importance?  Yet Australian LGBT travellers are considered expendable by Switzerland Tourism's Sydney representative, who states explicitly that "the LGBT market is presently not a priority for us". 

This happens a lot in the gay market especially.  We call it pinkwashing, and any savvy gay traveller can sense a questionable effort to reach into a wallet from a mile away.  While it's nice to see Emirates taking out full-page ads in gay press or having the government of Nepal make an official declaration that gay travellers have been reclassified as worthy of "priority" status—gee, Nepal, we like you, too—how many of these entities back up their paid ads and declarations with acts demonstrating commitment to the 'gay market'?  It's not hard, nor even expensive, but it does require assets often in short supply in executive offices:  originality and ingenuity. 

Tourism Ireland, Wonderful Copenhagen, and Vienna Tourism Office have been winning over Australian LGBT travellers for years, with the reward of media coverage and good word of mouth—that most coveted advertisement of all—as a direct result of their sincere efforts to inform us of the welcoming gay infrastructure that already exists in their countries.  Hanging on the other side of the closet are such countries as Holland, haemorrhaging market share to more genuinely welcoming gay destinations such as Barcelona and Berlin due to an astonishing air of presumption and indifference in promoting itself, and (now) Switzerland, which ticked gay travellers off the list last year but are just plain ticking them off this year.

In fact, during recent economic turmoil, many national tourism offices increased their flirtation with 'resilient' LGBT travellers in recognition of the higher than average household incomes and higher than average travel frequencies than the so-called "mainstream" market, which is often vaguely defined as readers of weekend travel sections in big newspapers, regardless of demographics.  Yet who are these readers?  Is the average 'mainstream Australian' really more likely to visit overseas destinations like Switzerland and India instead of Gold Coast, Bali, or Thailand?  Which market segments are, then, a priority?  No tourism office ever has a problem reaching out to ultraluxury travellers, yet these travellers can hardly be classified as mainstream.  Youth hostels and camping grounds aside, just imagine any national tourism office stating "Luxury travellers are not a priority for us."  Many luxury travellers are—no surprise here—gay and lesbian travellers.

Who, then, are the coveted mainstream travellers so highly sought after by these tourism offices?  Overworked couples with three kids?  Public servants?  First homeowners struggling to make this month's mortgage payment? 

In effect, considering LGBT travellers as unimportant denies national economies revenue from a rich source.  LGBT travellers are among the most loyal; we remember who is in our market for the right reasons and who is simply slapping a rainbow on their product and waving a striped flag.