The 1st International Meeting of LGBTI Tourism of Andalusia, which takes place in the Malaga town of Torremolinos from today Thursday, November 30 to Sunday, December 3, will bring together about a hundred participants, of which half are buyers from from twenty countries, while the rest represent the offer of the eight Andalusian provinces. This meeting, organized jointly by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the City of Torremolinos and Turespaña, aims to improve national and international knowledge of the resources offered by Andalusia for this segment, promoting online marketing, favoring product creation and, consequently, increasing the number of LGBTI travelers to the destination.

LGBTI tourism is one of the most specialized segments of the world tourism business and in Spain there has been an increase of more than 28% in the number of tourists in the last year. In addition, the average cost of this traveler exceeds by 30 percent to the average tourist. According to UNWTO data, 10% of tourists who travel annually worldwide belong to this group and Andalusia is one of their favorite destinations, especially because of the climate of tolerance and normalization that exists in our country in general and in the autonomous community in particular.

For its part, Torremolinos is considered the oldest gay destination in Spain, and it is now joined by cities such as Seville, Malaga and Granada, which have a varied offer of high quality and have decidedly committed to promoting this segment. Also Cádiz, Córdoba or Almería are being incorporated to other local destinations of the Andalusian geography in these years.

For the Board and the rest of the organizers, the 1st International LGBTI Tourism Meeting in Andalusia is one of the most important promotional events that will be held in the community in 2017.

Supply and demand contact

The planned agenda includes a working day tomorrow, Friday, December 1, at the Palacio de Congresos de Torremolinos between the Andalusian offer, composed of 52 representatives from the eight provinces, and international demand, made up of 43 international operators specialized in LGBTI tourism from a score of countries (Germany, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Spain, the United States, Finland, France, Holland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic) .

On this day there will be a presentation of the activity and workshops in reverse format in which the Andalusian specialized offer of the integrated segment will be put in contact with accommodation, routes, cultural visits, experiences, beaches, natural enclaves, gastronomy, leisure, agencies receptive, singular accommodations and promotional entities, with demand, integrated by tour operators, specialized travel agencies, prescribers, influencers, portals and online agencies, etc.

In addition, and with the aim of making available to a part of the participants the available resources, a pre tour of the province of Cádiz has been organized from November 28 to 30, which includes a visit to Cádiz, Jerez de la Frontera, Medina Sidonia, Janda Litoral, etc. While from November 30 to December 3 will be organized visits to different areas of the province of Malaga, to let participants know the cultural, gastronomic, unique experiences, accommodations and infrastructure of the Costa del Sol first-hand .