The City of Philadelphia grabbed national headlines earlier this year when it launched a marketing campaign to lure gay and lesbian tourists.
But a similar effort is happening in a smaller and quieter way in New Hampshire’s North Country.
NHPR Correspondent Trish Anderton reports.
Gay-friendly vacationing in New England used to be defined pretty much by Provincetown, Massachusetts.
The resort town at the tip of Cape Cod is lined with same-sex bars and beaches.
But lately, inns in the rural White Mountains have also been reaching out to gays and lesbians.
Marti Mayne is a spokeswoman for the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce.
She says since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, innkeepers have had to work harder to find guests.
MAYNE: People are staying closer to home, with changes in the economy people were less willing to part with money for travel. so what happened
is innkeepers had to get a lot more savvy about their marketing efforts.
Two years ago the Chamber added a category called “gay-friendly†to its hotel and inn listings.
Now 62 out of 174 properties in the area choose that designation….and for compelling reasons.
Ed Salvato is the editor of the gay travel magazine, Out and About.
He says gay men in particular are less likely to be raising children, so they have more time and money for travel.
SALVATO: you will get people who will travel at the drop of a hat, who’ll say hey there’s this gay-friendly lodging in northern New Hampshire that’s offering a special, let’s just go.
One reason gay marketing is on the rise is that it’s gotten a lot easier to do in recent years.
Lots of websites and travel agencies cater specifically to that market.
Salvato says they allow businesses to advertise to gays without putting a sign up in front of their inn that might drive some people away.
Salvato: you can just list yourself on a gay friendly website and no one else in the world needs to know you’re advertsing to gay people. so you as an advertiser have discretion and a little privacy
Another force that’s making Northern New Hampshire more gay friendly is gay business owners.
Les Schoof and his partner Ed Butler bought the Notchland Inn in Hart’s Location eleven years ago.
LES: 003 250 there were a couple of businesses that had gay ownership when we moved here but very few openly gay couples or indivs for that
matter. Now in the white mountains there are dozens of them.
Schoof and Butler are pictured side by side on the inn’s website.
And they list the inn with some gay travel organizations.
Still, Most of their customers are heterosexual.
And Schoof says the mix has never caused a problem.
SCHOOF: those people who choose to stay with us are not concerned about the fact that there’s a female couple next to them at dinner or whatever. It just has not been an issue, not once.
What isn’t clear is exactly how well gay-friendly marketing works.
Orlo Coots and his wife Judy bought the Sugar Hill Inn in Franconia two years ago.
They list the inn on a couple of gay travel sites.
14 26 I just started looking at everything and anything on the internet for marketing. I don’t know how that came across my files but I thought,
they like to travel, they want nice places and we’re a nice place.
But Coots says it’s hard to know whether people are finding the Sugar Hill Inn through those particular websites.
14 100 we don’t ask their sexual preference when they make a reservation on the phone. we do ask how they heard of us. and most people just
reference the web.
Surveys suggest this kind of marketing should work.
A 2002 internet survey by Syracuse University and the OpusComm Group found lesbians and gays were 82 percent more likely to buy from a
businesses that identify themselves as gay-friendly.
But Ed Salvato of Out and About Magazine concedes it may take more than just a listing on a website.
Salvato says when he has a choice of places to stay, he’ll choose an inn or hotel that donates to anti-AIDS efforts or other causes.
(Salvato) theres a little bit of a notion that I want to invest my gay dollars to benefit an actual charity or someone who’s truly putting their money
where their mouth is, who’s really gay friendly and active in the gay community too.
That’s a little harder to do in the North Country, where there is no highly visible gay community.
And Les Schoof at the Notchland Inn doesn’t expect that to change anytime soon.
007 319 one of the things we’re very clear about on the phone is if you’re asking are there any gay bars, well yes there are if you’re willing to drive two hours to Manchester to get to them.
Schoof says that’s fine with him and his guests.
He says no matter what their orientation, most people come here for the outdoors, the scenic beauty, and the peace and quiet.
And if North Country culture doesn’t celebrate gays and lesbians, Schoof and Butler believe it does fully accept them.
The two men have held selectman and moderator positions in tiny Hart’s Location.
In fact Butler can’t resist making a little joke about local politics:
After we got settled we heard the local rumor was, you know these guys up on the hill over at the inn are …. DEMOCRATs. (laughs).
For NHPR news I’m
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