Factors Affecting Gay Consumer Behavior in a Tourism Context

Abstract

With respect to tourism, it is seen as a widespread belief that gay men have distinct travel preferences, buying habits and motivations and, not only that, these are generally regarded to be particularly favourable to a high likelihood of taking a holiday, frequent holiday-taking and high spending (Mintel, 2000). Gay men have been referred to as ‘an emerging lifestyle segment’ (Fugate, 1993, p. 46), implying the existence of a distinct lifestyle that might enable marketers to target gay men effectively and economically. In this study, travel behavior is examined with the aim of determining just how realistic it is to assume that gay men are an attractive market to target for holidays. In order to contextualize the tourism marketing activity, it is vital that we recognise how public space is contested, controlled and inherently hetero-sexualized. This study is aimed at investigating a gay travel behavior based on Activities/Attitudes, Interests and Opinions (AIO) and attempts to extend the theoretical and empirical evidence among the push and pull motivations, perceived constraints, and travel lifestyle. In particular, this study attempts to research distinct travel behaviors’ that may emerge for gay men, thus confirming that gay men’s travel patterns are unique and as such, offer good prospects to those such as tour operators and hoteliers, willing to target this market. This study also explores the influences of the respondents’ personal values of the List of Values (LOV), and socio-demography to the overall conceptual model proposed in Figure 3-1 and concludes that there are significant opportunities for tourism marketers to reach out to gay consumers.