On the heels of their most successful Come Out With Pride to date, the Metropolitan Business Association has announced another ambitious venture. More than six months in the making, “Converge Orlando” will focus on bringing national and international LGBT events to Central Florida.
The announcement was shared at an Oct. 20 meeting of the American Marketing Association-Central Florida at the Doubletree Hotel across from Universal Studios. The meeting addressed marketing the Orlando area as an LGBT travel destination, and was attended by local and national travel and media representatives.
To punctuate the potential for Converge, co-chair Mikael Audebert shared that Orlando has been chosen as a “candidate city” for the 2018 Gay Games.
“The Gay Games would generate between $60 and $80 million for the local economy,” said Audebert. “It would mean even more for the LGBT community. I immediately jumped on the opportunity.”
Audebert said that 15 cities in six countries will bid on Gay Games X, and the winner will be announced in 2013. Gay Games VIII was held in Cologne, Germany. Last year it was announced that Gay Games IX in 2014 will be held in Cleveland, Ohio.
Like COWP, Converge Orlando will be a separate organization under the umbrella of MBA. It was first envisioned more than a year ago, during a meeting between former Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau executive Paul Queen and MBA president Dr. David Baker-Hargrove.
“Central Florida’s economy depends on travel and tourism,” Baker-Hargrove said. “I definitely see the need for the LGBT community to leverage our enormous impact on that industry. Converge Orlando will fill that role.”
Based on comments during the AMA-CFL meeting, there is an overwhelming need for such an organization. Orlando is the second most visited destination in the United States, but it is ninth in terms of LGBT travel. And based on surveys, only 15% of LGBT travelers consider Orlando to be a “gay-friendly” destination.
Attendees at the meeting acknowledged the huge impact of Gay Days on the local economy. Held each year during the first weekend in June, Gay Days routinely attracts tens of thousands to the area who leave as much as $100 million in local cash registers.
But they also noted that theme parks and the local CVB have been reluctant to target the LGBT market for fear of jeopardizing a “family friendly” image.
The Director of Diversity Marketing for the Las Vegas CVB had three words for the Orlando-based tourism industry: “Get over it.” Mya Lake Reyes shared that since Las Vegas began aggressively seeking LGBT tourism, group bookings have increased by 800%. And she noted that for every $1 spent on marketing, LGBT travelers are spending $153 in Las Vegas.
Queen noted that hotels in the Orlando area currently run at an average 53% occupancy, so that even a boost of two to three percent would be a significant return on any marketing investment.
Key West travel professional Stephen Murray-Smith recommended that Converge Orlando use a stepped approach with the local CVB by first getting them to acknowledge the huge LGBT travel market, then creating a micro website and LGBT collateral materials to hand out at LGBT travel shows.
Sharing his experience at American Airlines, director of LGBT sales George Carrancho, agreed. He said at first top executives didn’t want to touch the LGBT market. But when he surreptitiously launched a micro website and they saw the results it was the talk of the company.
“I’m a big believer in taking baby steps,” Carrancho said.
