ARGENTINA: Gay Tourism Boom in Buenos Aires

-Marcela Valente-

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 25 (IPS) - The legalisation of same-sex marriage in Buenos Aires has helped make the Argentine capital the leading Latin American destination for gay and lesbian tourists, outstripping even Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil, the former favourites.

"In the past, gay and lesbian tourists would choose Brazil as their main destination, and come to Buenos Aires for a weekend excursion. Now the trend is the exact opposite," said Carlos Meliá, owner and manager of Pride Travel, the only Argentine travel agency fully run by gays and geared almost exclusively to the homosexual community.

The reasons for this shift are numerous. According to some tourism industry specialists, many travellers simply "got tired" of always going to Brazil, and in Buenos Aires they found a friendly city with a wide range of cultural and entertainment options, as well as extremely competitive prices, following the devaluation of the Argentine peso in 2002.

"It's like a European city with a Latin flavour," Meliá summarised.

Gay and lesbian travellers have become a highly attractive market for the tourism industry worldwide, since they tend to fall in the category of "DINKs" -- short for "double income, no kids" -- which usually translates into greater spending power. They come mainly from the United States, Europe, South Africa, Canada and Australia.

"These are couples in which both partners are professionals, with no children, who devote a large part of their income to leisure and personal care. They travel more than once a year, and not necessarily during high season, since they aren't restricted by school holidays, like parents with children are," explained Meliá.

While there are no official statistics, the legalisation of civil unions between same-sex couples in Buenos Aires in July 2003 unleashed a veritable boom in gay tourism.

Since then, this sector has experienced "exponential growth", according to the manager of Pride Travel. "Business in our offices has increased by 50 percent a month," he added.

Buenos Aires-based tango instructor Augusto Balizano has also been overwhelmed by the upsurge in gay tourism since city authorities authorised same-sex marriage.

"I've been giving tango lessons to Argentine gays for six years, but in 2003 we started up a 'milonga' (tango dancing venue) and it immediately started filling up with foreigners," he told IPS.

Balizano said that every Wednesday, between 100 and 120 people flock to The Marshall, the dance hall that he and his partners rent out for their weekly 'gay milonga'.

"Some prefer to just watch, others have some experience and get up and dance," he said, adding that the tango was originally danced only by men.

The Marshall is not a specifically gay venue, and neither are the salsa clubs, discotheques, cafés and restaurants frequented by gays and lesbians in Buenos Aires, which also attract heterosexual patrons.

These venues are classified as "gay friendly", as opposed to exclusively gay, which Meliá believes is a distinctive trait in Buenos Aires. "There is no such thing as a gay ghetto here, like you see in other cities," he noted.

In Buenos Aires, business owners in the San Telmo neighbourhood, known for its antique shops and open-air markets, proposed the creation of a tour circuit for gay and lesbian visitors, but not a special district. "The tendency is to promote a mixture, and there are many places where it's considered fashionable to have gay clients," said Meliá.

This same tendency is seen in other major Argentine tourism destinations, like Córdoba, the capital of the province of the same name, Rosario, in the province of Santa Fe, and Mar del Plata, a beach resort located 400 kilometres south of the Argentine capital, in the province of Buenos Aires.

In terms of accommodation, a number of self-described "gay friendly" hotels have sprouted up in recent years, along with others exclusively for gay and lesbian tourists, particularly bed and breakfast establishments.

Gay and lesbian tour packages to Buenos Aires often include day trips to the cities of Colonia or Montevideo in neighbouring Uruguay.

Unlike countries where the government tourism authorities have special departments to attend to this growing market sector, there is "little support" provided by the Argentine National Tourism Secretariat, noted Meliá.

"The whole world is trying to attract 'pink money', but the government here hasn't realised that yet," he commented.

On the other hand, the sector enjoys close cooperation with the under-secretariat of tourism run by the government of the city of Buenos Aires.

With the sponsorship of this local government office, Pride Travel publishes a pocket guide called La Ronda, with maps, tour routes and coupons for restaurants, nightclubs, 'milongas', shops, concerts and other services, like massages and hair salons.

April will see the launching of a monthly publication, Pride Travel Mag, announced as "the first South American gay tourism magazine".

In response to this growing phenomenon, Buenos Aires has been chosen for the first time ever as the host city for a symposium organised by the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), to be held Feb. 24-27.

Every year, the IGLTA holds an annual convention and four symposia in different tourism destinations around the world. Each symposium attracts over 100 representatives of tour agencies and travel publications that specialise in the gay and lesbian market. (END/2005)

 Gay Tourits discover Buenos Aires

-Elliott Gotkine- ( BBC correspondent, Argentina )

Sweat trickles down the face of a man busking in a steamy town square

A young woman paints the final brushstrokes of a summertime cityscape.
Gaggles of children giggle by the lakeside in a gloriously green park.
This is Buenos Aires: So pretty, so elegant and so European that it has often been described as the "Paris of South America".
Before Argentina's economic crisis struck in 2001, Buenos Aires was probably the most expensive city in South America: $1 bought you one peso.
Now it gets you three, allowing visitors to experience a first-world city at third-world prices.

Chic quarter
But although tourism of all types is booming, Buenos Aires is now establishing itself as the place to go for one particular group of visitors.

San Telmo is just outside the city centre. It has always been a favourite among tourists of all orientations, thanks to its lovely antique shops, its chic boutiques and its ancient-looking cobbled streets. But it is also fast becoming the epicentre for Buenos Aires' booming gay tourist trade.
Not only is this the home of the first ever gay hostel in Buenos Aires, but there are now plans afoot to officially designate this place "gay-friendly".

Enjoying some of the shade afforded by a cavernous flea market, I caught up in San Telmo with Gary and his partner Chris.
They come from just outside San Francisco - the birthplace of gay pride.
They had already done Miami, Rio and other gay hotspots and wanted to try something new.
Gary told me Buenos Aires seemed like their kind of town.

"I just wanted to come here for the great weather, the European atmosphere, the exchange rate, the fact that it's in the Americas. And then finding out, as we travelled, that it's very gay-friendly and very accepting, it just means we can enjoy the attractive men and go to the gay bars."

Parade
In November, Buenos Aires' annual gay pride parade attracted thousands of men and women.

Waving rainbow-coloured flags and dancing with unbridled joy, they wound their way through the city's streets.

How times have changed in Catholic Argentina: Just a few years ago, there were far fewer marchers and many covered their faces for fear of reprisals.

Nowadays, the worst they can expect is a hail of verbal abuse.

"This march deserves our deepest scorn," shouted one man. "It's a march against nature."
Overall, though, protests were muted.

Buenos Aires is now among the most liberal cities in the Americas.

Two years ago, it legalised same-sex civil unions. And at the recent Latin American tourism fair, held in the Argentine capital, officials were more than happy to promote the city's pink credentials.

"We're not conservative, in traditional terms," says Marcela Cuesta, Buenos Aires's subsecretary of tourism.
"We're quite an open society, with open criteria to accept visitors. And that's what we've been showing and that's why gay tourism has nominated us as a gay-friendly city."

Income
She says she's delighted with the influx of gay tourists, who bring in much-needed revenues.

"Tourism in Buenos Aires is up to 5.25m visitors - a new record. Twenty percent of these, we believe, are gay".
-Marcela Cuesta- ( Buenos Aires tourism official )

She notes that homosexuals tend to be big spenders because many do not have children to support. And she says their efforts to tap into this niche are already bearing fruit.

"Official figures show that tourism in Buenos Aires is up 38% on last year to 5.25m visitors - a new record. Twenty percent of these, we believe, are gay, from all over the world, especially from Europe and America."

To meet this growing demand, travel agencies, guest houses and even tango bars catering for the city's gay visitors are popping up all over town. And there are plans afoot to build a five-star gay hotel in the city.

Buenos Aires, dejected for so long by its economic woes, is once again standing proud, as the gay tourism capital of South America.
But then, in a city where even the presidential palace - the Casa Rosada - is pink, we should have probably seen it coming.

 GAY TIMES (Reino Unido)

Argentina gay y lesbic

Rating: 5 estrellas rosa

Capital City: Buenos Aires

Other importants cities/vacation places: Cordoba, Rosario, La Plata

Scene and culture:
Buenos Aires is probably the most liberal and gay friendly city in Latin America. Here you will find a large and sophisticated gay scene. We were very impressed with Buenos Aires which has a scene that we felt compared very favourably to any similar sized city in Europe or North America. There are loads of gay bars, restaurants and clubs, several saunas and even a raunchy sex club. the only down side is that being a Latin country everything is of course really late and most bars don`t get started until well after midnight.

We think the combination of a vibrant scene and a distinct "European" feel will make gay and lesbian visitors comfortable. Recent liberalisation in the laws effecting gays and lesbians plus the devaluation of the Peso has prompted a boom in gay tourism particularly from the United States.