Steve Burns
WMAL.com
RICHMOND – (WMAL) Virginia tourism officials are looking to increase their outreach to the LGBT community as they find the community is more reluctant to visit.
“We found that there was more of a negative perception of Virginia being welcoming to the LGBT community,” Virginia Tourism Corporation Business Development Director Wirt Confroy tells WMAL. “We wanted to turn that around.”
There are plenty of LGBT-friendly establishments in the Commonwealth, Confroy says, but the message wasn’t necessarily getting across.
The Corporation is introducing a way for businesses in the tourism industry, including restaurants, hotels, stores and attractions, to designate their LGBT-friendly stance through the tourism website, Confroy says.
“This way there’s no doubt in the visitor’s mind,” he says. “Our primary goal is matching the visitors to Virginia with the hosts that really want them the most.”
The LGBT visitor is a valuable one to court. Demographic research indicates their income tends to skew higher than average, leaving more disposable income that can be used for travel or vacations. Virginia tourism officials say LGBT visitors spend more and stay longer than the average visitor.
While the goal is for every business to be LGBT-friendly, Confroy says, “It’s really up to the business owner to self-designate. Every business has its own business plan, its own owner and experience it creates.”
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed a bill last March that would have allowed business owners to refuse service to LGBT customers on religious grounds. He called the legislation “nothing more than an attempt to stigmatize.”
Confroy says LGBT visitors will also be able to pick up some new merchandise as well.
“We’ve given the (Virginia is for Lovers) logo a new treatment, which is adding the pride, the rainbow heart, in place of the red heart.”
The new LGBT landing page on Virginia’s tourism website can be found HERE.
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Virginia Tourism Corporation)
