THREE travel companies have formed a new consortium, Outings, to offer gay-friendly tours to and from the Philippines that are free of discrimination.
The consortium, conceptualised in 2H2013 and consisting of Rajah Travel Corp, Afro Asian Travel and Tours, and Travel Warehouse, began marketing and sales at two B2C events in early July with gay pride tours for Amsterdam and Las Vegas.
“The LGBT market is an untapped market for the Philippines, which itself is a young market,” said Alberto Santos, overall in charge for products and marketing, Rajah Travel Corp. “When we teamed up with Afro Asian and Travel Warehouse, we wanted to offer products where the market will feel safe and welcome, and not discriminated against.”
Travel Warehouse’s general manager, Jaison Yang, explained: “Ours are not tours with an LGBT element, they’re gay-friendly tours designed specifically for the market.”
Yang said his Bali ‘Sparty’ tours will take travellers to LGBT-friendly spas and ‘pink’ beaches. Another possibility is cruise-based tours to Komodo where travel groups can charter an entire boat and chef for themselves. He intends to also cover destinations like Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Singapore.
Meanwhile Afro Asian Travel and Tours is planning programmes for Manila, Cebu, Boracay, and Palawan, which may include a “rainbow run” or expo. These itineraries, readily found in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, will be FIT and couple-oriented.
Angel Bognot, president of Afro Asian, has begun promoting Outings products to buyers in Europe and North America.
Rajah is exploring selling cruise dates with Atlantis Events, which does LGBT cruises in Europe and the US. Said Santos: “We’re testing the market…We want to see if the products will be accepted, and if this will really grow into a market of its own.”
