International LGBTQ+ Travel Association

The International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (abbreviated IGLTA, and formerly named the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association), is an association of tourism businesses that welcome the LGBTQ+ community. As of 2016, the association had member businesses in about 80 countries.

History

IGLTA is a network of tourism businesses that welcome the LGBTQ+ community. The organization provides travel resources and information to travel consumers and promotes equality and safety within the LGBTQ+ tourism industry. The members of IGLTA include LGBTQ+ friendly accommodations, transport, destinations, service providers, travel agents, tour operators, events, and travel media in about 80 countries.

Founded in 1983 by a group of 25 travel agents and hotel owners, IGLTA has since grown significantly. The original name was IGTA; the "L" was added in 1997.

The association has historically had several names:

• From 1983 to 1997, the organization was known as IGTA (International Gay Travel Association).
• From 1997 to 2019, the organization was known as the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association.
• In March 2019, the name was changed to the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association.

IGLTA was the first LGBTQ+ organization to receive affiliate member status in the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in November 2010.

In November 2015 the IGLTA became an orgizational partner with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)

In 2016 the IGLTA was awarded the Winq Magazine Travel Award in London, UK.

Governance

The IGLTA has two boards: the IGLTA Board of Directors, which is the governing body for the association and oversees the organization's strategy and direction; and the IGLTA Foundation Board of Directors, which manages the foundation's finances and establishes official policies that govern the foundation.

International Symposium and World Convention

The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) holds an annual world convention and four symposia in different tourism destinations around the world. The international symposium attracts more than 500 attendees, including destination CVB officials, travel agents, airline employees, hotel employees and tourism professionals. The foundation of IGLTA also sponsors scholarships for students to attend the international symposiums each year. Previous scholarships have been awarded to students from Brazil, Colombia, China, Curacao, Jamaica, Japan, Liberia, Norway, Peru, South Africa, Suriname, Spain and the United States.

The 36th annual world convention was held in New York City in late April 2019, one month prior to the WorldPride festival being held in the city throughout June to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The 37th annual world convention will be held in Milan in May 2020.

IGLTA Foundation

The mission statement of the IGLTA Foundation (2019): The IGLTA Foundation supports the mission of IGLTA and its members through education, research and leadership development that benefits the global LGBTQ+ tourism industry.

Founded in 2012 with the support of the IGLTA Foundation founding partner Delta Air Lines, the IGLTA Foundation is the 501(c)3 organization and public charity subsidiary of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association. The IGLTA Foundation supports initiatives for industry organizations, leaders and communities to advance LGBTQ+ travel around the world. A Board of Directors governs the IGLTA Foundation, overseeing the organization's strategy and direction. The IGLTA Foundation Board of Directors operates by a standard of bylaws.

Areas of activity for the IGLTA Foundation focus on "leadership", research, and education.

The IGLTA Foundation encourages governments and tourism industry leaders to make LGBTQ+ travelers feel safe and welcome. The IGLTA Foundation provides resources for IGLTA to engage with other non-governmental organizations as well as governments and tourism boards to speak on the positive economic and cultural impact of LGBTQ+ tourism. The IGLTA Foundation is also an official partner of ECPAT International (formerly End Child Prostitution And Trafficking).

The IGLTA Foundation funds research to promote understanding of LGBTQ+ travel within the global tourism industry. The IGLTA Foundation funds IGLTA to collect and disseminate industry research. This research provides demographic information about LGBTQ+ travelers and economic data about the LGBTQ+ tourism market. The IGLTA Foundation also funds original research on issues affecting the LGBTQ+ travel industry.

IGLTAF also funds IGLTA memberships for LGBTQ+ small tourism business owners in emerging destinations that lack governmental or industry support. Since 2012, Association memberships have been funded for small businesses in Cambodia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Jamaica, Montenegro, Peru, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Vietnam.

The IGLTA Foundation also supports scholarships for students and small business owners to attend the annual IGLTA Global Convention.

Trump Controversy

On July 5, 2015, the IGLTA sent an email to its members announcing the addition of its newest member businesses. The email included three Trump-branded properties: Trump SoHo New York, Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago and Trump International Hotel & Tower New York.

This was not the first time the IGLTA had included Trump-branded properties. A Change.org petition dating to 2011 encouraged the organization to "Dump Trump Properties".

On July 7, 2017, the IGLTA gave an official statement to the Windy City Times, IGLTA President/CEO John Tanzella said, "IGLTA is a member-based travel association promoting LGBTQ friendly travel options. IGLTA also aims to support and educate businesses that want to better respond to the needs of LGBTQ clients. "The Trump branded properties which are current members of IGLTA (2017) are independently owned hotels and not owned by Mr. Trump."

Donald Trump has spoken out against LGBT Rights and Same-Sex Marriage. As President of the United States, he was the first President since George W. Bush to not acknowledge June as Pride Month.

Few people have expressed concern surrounding the topic, despite the differences between the President of the United States and non-affiliated, privately owned, LGBTQ-friendly travel accommodations. On June 20, Trump's Chicago hotel was briefly illuminated in rainbow colors, presumably in recognition of Pride celebrations the following weekend. NBC 5 tweeted a photo of the display.

IGLTA award recipients and symposium destinations

Award recipients from the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association Annual Global Conventions.

1994 Washington, DC, USA

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award:
  • Newt Dieter
  • Kevin Mossier
  • Richard Cash
  • Walter Marlowe

1996 Sydney, NSW, Australia

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award:
  • Marianne Ferrari
  • Rod Stringer
  • Dan Delbex

1999 Minneapolis, USA

• Chair Award:
  • Babs Daitch

1997 Philadelphia, PA, USA

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award: Herb Harris

• Chair Award: Kevin Kailey

• Chair Award: Richard Gray

1998 Montreal, QC, Canada

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award:
  • Lynne Hocking
  • Rick Cirillo

• Chair Award: Cynthia Marquard

2001 Munich, Germany

• Chair Award: Rosemary Hopkins

2002 Fort Lauderdale, USA

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award: Richard Gray

• Chair Award: Geoff Carey

2003 Manchester, UK

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award:
  • John D'Alessandro
  • Aaron Kampfe

• Chair Award: Carl Zander

2004 Vancouver, Canada

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award:
  • Kevin Kailey
  • Hanns Ebensten

• Chair Award: Mary Clark

2006 Washington, DC, USA

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award: The Original American Airlines Rainbow Team (Rick Cirillo, Mike Fricke, Robin Burr)

2008 Las Vegas, NV, USA

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award: Lima Tours

• Chair Award:
  • Alan Beck
  • Fun Maps

2009 Toronto, Canada

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award: Andrew Stokes

2010 Antwerp, Belgium

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award: Spartacus International (Berlin)

• Chair Award: Jose Sampol- TAM Airlines VP
• Community Award: Patrick Aertsen
• Corporate Award: Accor Hotels
• Pioneer Award: Madian Al Jazerah
• Innovator Award: Shannon Wentworth -Sweet
• Networking Award: GNetwork360

2011 Fort Lauderdale, USA

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award: Charley Rounds

• Chair Award: Gina Gatta- Damron Guide
• Community Award: Nicki Grossman
• Corporate Award: American Airlines
• Pioneer Award: David Ryan -RhinoAfrica Safaris/ Out2Africa
• Innovator Award: SAS Scandinavian Airlines
• Networking Award: ABRAT GLS (The Brazilian Association for Gay & Lesbian Tourism)

2012 Florianopolis, Brazil

• IGLTA Hall of Fame Award: Gregg Kaminsky- R Family Vacations (NYC)
• Chair Award: Javier Blanco- UNWTO
• Community Award: Andre Fisher
• Pioneer Award: Russell Lord -Kenes Tours
• Travel Writer Award: Michael Luongo

2013 Chicago, IL, USA

• The Hanns Ebensten Hall of Fame Award: Charles Lapointe, President/CEO of Tourisme Montreal
• Chair Award: Thomas Roth
• Community Award: Center on Halsted
• Pioneer Award: Dee Farrell
• Travel Writer Award: Manuela Kay

2014 Madrid, Spain

• The Chair Award: Bob Witeck
• Community Award: Alfonso Llopart Basterra
• Pioneer Award: ILGA
• Media Honor Award: Merryn Johns
• Ambassador Award: Alessio Virgilli

2015 Los Angeles, CA, USA

• The Chair Award: Barack Obama

• Hanns Ebensten Hall of Fame Award: Feel Free Olivia, Olivia

• Destination Pioneer: The Curacao Tourist Board
• LGBT Event Pioneer: Doug Swallow
• Community Honor: The Los Angeles LGBT center
• Networking: Camarade Comerciantes LGBT de Colombia
• Travel Writer: Jurrian Teulings
• Ambassador of the Year: Jonathan Mountford

2016 Cape Town Africa

• The Chair Award: Desmond Tutu

• IGLTA Community Honor: Nondumiso "Ndumie" Funda

• IGLTA Networking Honor: Fitur GAY (LGBT)

• IGLTA Ambassador of the Year: Shiho Ikeuchi & Shintaro Koizumi

2017 St. Petersburg, FL, USA

• Corporate Leadership: George A. Kalogridis, President, Walt Disney World Resort.
• Community (based in the convention state/region): Barbara Poma/onePULSE Foundation. See also Pulse nightclub.
• Hanns Ebensten Hall of Fame Award: Christina Guggenberger, founder of the Stockholm Gay and Lesbian Network.
• Pioneer in Destination Marketing: Tourism Authority of Thailand.
• Travel Writer: Andrew Collins who began his career at Fodor’s in 1991 and five years later, as a freelancer, authored Fodor’s Gay Guide to the USA, the first LGBTQ+ travel guidebook produced by a major mainstream guidebook publisher. He has since contributed to more than 180 Fodor’s titles and countless LGBTQ+ publications.

2018 Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Pathfinder Award: Kimahli Powell for Rainbow Railroad;
• Storyteller Award: Dirk Baumgartl, Blu Media Group;
• Pinnacle Award: the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau 23rd Prime Minister of Canada. Randy Boissonnault, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre and LGBTQ2 Liaison to Justin Trudeau, accepted the Pinnacle Award on the Canadian Prime Minister’s behalf;
• Hanns Ebensten Hall of Fame Award: Tanya Churchmuch, MuchPR;
• Pioneer Award: Dean Nelson, Pride House International.

2019 New York City, NY, USA

• Pioneer Award: Fabrice Houdart, Human Rights Officer, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), New York City;
• Vanguard Award: ITB LGBT+ Travel Pavilion, Thomas Bömkes of Diversity Tourism, ITB partner; Rika Jean François, Commissioner ITB Corporate Social Responsibility, ITB Berlin;
• Hanns Ebensten Hall of Fame Award: George Neary former Associate Vice President of Cultural Tourism for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.
• IGLTA Foundation Humanitarian Award: Terrence McNally, Tony Award-winning playwright; and theater producer Tom Kirdahy.

See also

• LGBT tourism