The Berkshire Visitors Bureau hosted an LGBT Tourism Forum on January 27th in Adams which gathered community members, local business owners, consultants on the LGBT market at the State level.

Here is a synopsis developed by the BVB of the LGBT Tourism Forum that was held last week in Adams. Below is a list of links that can serve as resources for local businesses to that are interested in targeting the LGBT market.

I would like to see a targeted and collaborative effort come out of this region to focus on the LGBT population, both locally and for tourists and second home owners.

Many ideas came up about how to encourage local businesses to become more pro-active on hosting events/entertainment that appeals to this niche market (ex. Gay Ski Weekend at one of our fabulous local resorts, etc.)

Last October, Pittsfield hosted the first Out in the Berkshires Weekend, which had a very positive response and strong attendance to each event in the collaboration.

The City will once again serve as a lead collaborator on this event, which will occur over Columbus Day Weekend, which coincides with National Coming Out Day. We would like to make this year’s event larger and more dynamic.

The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts will be hosting the Out in the Berkshires Invitational Art Show, which will feature local LGBT artists, as one of our many events. If you are interested in joining the effort for this year’s event, please contact outintheberkshires@gmail.com

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Thank you for contributing to our open forum on LGBT travel last week. All attendees are included in this email and will be added to our LGBT email list serve so we can continue to share LGBT resources, events and information with each other. Feel free to forward this to others who you think should be part of the dialogue and we will add them to the list.

Below are links to some of the resources discussed:

· Submit LGBT friendly events to massvacation.com micro site
http://www.lgbtmassvacation.com/lgbt.php

· Get listed in MOTT’s LGBT micro site and in their iphone application
http://lgbtmassvacation.com/business_listings.php

· TAGAppproved.com: Designated LGBT welcoming hotels & attractions worldwide
http://www.tagapproved.com/

· IGLTA.org: International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association
http://www.iglta.org/

· LGBT media and website resources
http://www.berkshires.org/Niche%20markets/GLBT%20Ressources.pdf

We’ve reached out to MOTT to see if there are any other LGBT media resources available and will be looking at how we incorporate LGBT message into our website and PR outreach over the next few months. We’ll keep you posted.

Best,

Dara Kaufman
Director of Member Services

Berkshire Visitors Bureau
3 Hoosac Street, Adams MA 01220
(413) 743-4500
dkaufman@berkshires.org

Visit us online at www.berkshires.org