Programs

Tourism

We’re here to help you get market-ready for LGBT+ travellers

LGBT+ travellers represent a major opportunity for recovery for our Canadian tourism industry.

They outspend their mainstream counterparts at 7x the average trip expense. They rebound faster after industry shocks, being among the first segment to recover post-9/11 and SARS. And right now, 90% of them are seeking travel opportunities within Canada.

They are after many of the travel experiences you likely already have to offer, but they value one thing significantly higher than their mainstream counterparts: their safety.

In order to welcome the lucrative LGBT+ Canadian travel market, valued at over $12 billion annually, there is work to do to ensure these travellers’ comfort and wellbeing.

So, what’s the first step?

Before engaging these communities, you need to prepare to welcome them into a safe space. This means ensuring your destination recognizes gender and sexual diversity and has meaningful practices in place to ensure LGBT+ travellers have an inclusive and positive experience with you.

Luckily, CGLCC, in partnership with Tourism HR Canada, has designed a number of training and educational tools to get you started on the right track – and ready to boost your business.

Rainbow Registered LGBT+ Friendly Accreditation Program

If you want to enthusiastically showcase your business as a safe space that is LGBT+ inclusive, you’ve come to the right place. But there are a number of criteria you need to meet before earning the prestigious Rainbow Registered mark, and the benefits that go along with it. To be associated with the Rainbow Registered Program, no matter the size of your business, you must meet rigorous standards that ensure LGBT+ customers  consistently feel safe and included at your establishment(s), and that work starts from within.

Navigating LGBT+ Diversity and Inclusion in the Tourism Industry Workshops

You’ve heard it before: change comes from within. Before you invite LGBT+ travellers to your destination in droves, make sure your workplace is an inclusive environment for LGBT+ employees and customers. Join a Navigating LGBT+ Diversity and Inclusion in the Tourism Industry workshop in your region to learn the basics of an LGBT+-inclusive vocabulary, space, and workplace.

Travel Market-Ready Seminars

Once you’ve gotten acquainted with the various LGBT+ communities and how best to serve them in your workplace, you may be ready to make a concerted effort to welcome the LGBT+ travel market. This two-hour seminar will share exclusive LGBT+ travel market research and case study best practices from around the world, as well as exposing you to a number of custom LGBT+ products to help inspire your own successful LGBT+ tourism-welcoming strategy.

Destination Audits

The Destination Audit is designed to assess your strengths and areas for improvement in your LGBT+ travel market-readiness or tourism strategies. The Destination Audit program is best-suited to destinations that have already completed diversity and inclusion training and made some efforts to welcome the LGBT+ travel market (or completed the Travel Market-Ready seminar). The final recommendation report from the Audit may serve as a benchmarking tool to continue to assess and elevate your LGBT+ travel market strategy each year.

Tourism Toolkit

The Toolkit is comprised of a series of resources aimed at creating an LGBT+ inclusive organization:

  • LGBT+ Products and Tours
  • Inclusive Procurement Guide
  • Trans and Non-Binary Inclusion Resource Guide
  • LGBT+ Travel Market Guide & Tourism Development Toolkit
  • Glossary of Terminology
  • Hosting LGBT+ Inclusive Events
  • LGBT+ Inclusion Guide
  • LGBT+ Business Case for Inclusion
  • Community Engagement Guide
  • Marketing to the LGBT+ Community
  • Starting an Employee Resource Group
  • Allyship Resource Guide
  • LGBT+ Inclusive Policies and Practices

The Toolkit is accessible to all CGLCC members and Rainbow Registered accredited businesses through the member portal.