The use of Instagram as a gaytrification tool for a queer precinct

Abstract

Research on LGBTQI + people has increased in recent years in several areas. In geography and sociology, they were interpreted as producers and modifiers of urban space. In tourism literature, efforts are concentrated on diversified consumption practices. Queer geography has noticed that LGBTQI + people have developed practices that have transformed former ghettos into notable gayborhoods in a process called gaytrification which has changed the way we enjoy cities. The literature review on gayborhoods proposes a possible end for these neighborhoods, as sexual identities gained greater acceptability. Research in queer geography reveals contributions to tourism studies, indicating that the intersections between sexuality and space contribute to the development of tourist destinations. This can be observed in an increase in tourist flow in a post-Covid-19 period, there has been an increase in tourist flow in the Reguliersdwarsstraat, the main street of leisure and entertainment aimed at the LGBTQI + people in Amsterdam. Representing a trend of reviving these neighborhoods as queer spaces after periods of lockdown. The corpus of analysis, consisting of 3955 photographs, shared between 2019 and 2022, provides answers to the following question: Can a tourism promotional strategy using social media delay the end of queer spaces and gayborhoods? The analysis states that visitors perform queerness practices that consolidate an urban queer tourist precinct, with a high tourist flow, mainly at night and in the summer months prevent its heterosexualization. Thus, it is possible to affirm that the tourist gaytrification of gay neighborhoods and streets preserves the historical and cultural legacy of LGBTQI + people, and that the construction of queers precincts diversifies the tourist offer of cities.