THE Florida Keys and Key West Tourist Development Council claims the British travel trade is missing out on marketing the destination to the gay market.
The council is one of only two tourism bodies in the US to employ members of staff dedicated to ‘pink tourism’.
Sales manager Stephen Smith said Key West has a strong tradition of gay tourism which accounts for 18% of the destination’s total accommodation revenue.
But Smith said the British travel trade may be missing out on sales through lack of awareness of facilities for the gay market.
“Everyone realises that gays tend to be dual income couples usually with above-average salaries who tend to travel a lot,” he said.
“We estimate that we have about 30,000 gay UK visitors, but it could be more. But often agents don’t know the answers, such as the best properties for that market,”said Smith.
Key West has 17 exclusively gay properties and there are countless gay events from men or women-only sailing trips, tea dances and bingo.
The Conch Republic, as Florida Keys is known, recognises same-sex marriages and a growing number of gay couples are going to the Keys to tie the knot, even though the marriage has no legal standing in the UK.