Out in the Berkshires joined Barrington Stage Company and  Jae’s Spice Restaurant at the 10th International Conference on Gay and Lesbian Tourism’s Travel Expo on Tuesday November 3rd at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston.  The annual expo is put on by Community Marketing, Inc. and takes place in a different city across North America each year.  This year’s expo drew in hundreds of attendees and exhibitors came from as far as Los Angeles, New Orleans, Alaska, and Spain.

Barrington Stage Company will be releasing its 2010 line-up and visitors to Tuesday’s expo got a sneak preview of the amazing line-up beginning next summer.  Keep an eye out for the public release!

BSC and Jae’s Spice have partnered on a number of events and offer an excellent package deal for dinner and a show during the run of Main Stage productions.  Jae’s Spice also has a gorgeous banquet space upstairs that has been used for a number of gay-weddings recently.

There was a strong showing from western Massachusetts. Other regional representation came from the luxurious 49-guestroom retreat,  Orchards Hotel in Williamstown and the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. Massachusetts was the most well-represented delegation at the conference, including the Massachusetts Office of Tourism & Travel’s new LGBT-focused branch, the first state in the USA to establish such an entity.  Visit the new site at massvacation.com/rainbow.

All in all, the conference was a large success and a great representation for the state and the region on a global level for embracing and catering to the LGBT market.

Here is a list of the current top LGBT destinations in the USA, with Provincetown and Boston both representing Massachusetts.  Perhaps the Berkshires will make their way onto the list in the near future?

Most Visited US Destinations (Source: Community Marketing, Inc.)

The table below illustrates the top 20 most-visited destinations in the US, by LGBT survey respondents who reside in the US (n=4,017).