New Website Provides Gay Tips for Travel Industry  | News | Advocate.com

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January 10, 2008
New Website Provides Gay Tips for Travel Industry

This week GayComfort, a new training and accreditation system, was launched, according to a press release from Web Wire. The site teaches businesses in the travel industry innovative and efficient ways to approach LGBT people and their common travel issues.

The training program deals specifically with how gay customers differ from other customers, how they are the same, what specific concerns they have with the travel industry, and what wording or phrases to avoid when accommodating them.

The training also informs businesses about common myths and stereotypes to avoid as well as ways staffers can avoid seeming homophobic.

"Gay travelers have for years been telling us stories of bad customer service ruining their vacations," Ian Johnson, CEO for Out Now, a gay marketing firm, said in the release. "From mild discomfort to outright homophobia, the stories differ.... When you think that the whole point of a vacation is to relax and feel comfortable, that situation is far from ideal." (The Advocate)

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