Do Anti-Gay Laws Impact Tourism Markets? Part I

There’s plenty to celebrate right now for queer travelers, from October’s legalization of same-sex marriage in Germany to the recent vote in Australia that is paving the way for marriage equality down under.

For sure, attitudes are changing across much of the world—and for the better.

However, there are still entire swaths of the globe that range from unfriendly to downright dangerous for the community: Much of the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia remain as question marks for LGBTQ travelers, whether single or coupled.

Changes Afoot in Egypt?

Over the past two months, there has been a wave of anti-LGBTQ activity in Egypt, with police and federal authorities arresting dozens of gay and transgender citizens and even sentencing some of them to prison. Gays in Egypt have always faced a bit of a limbo situation, with laws not specifically outlawing homosexuality, but with morality provisions that make occasional crackdowns possible and legal.

Robert Sharp, Owner of OUT Adventures—which conducts luxury tours in locations as varied as Cuba, Thailand and Antarctica—said they don’t travel to Egypt as a company, due to the current climate for LGBT people.

“In October, Egyptian lawmakers introduced a bill to recriminalize homosexuality,” Sharp said. “The police are using dating aps such as Grindr, Hornet and Scruff to lure LGBT individuals and ultimately arrest them. There have been anal probes, and the government is using the people they catch to find others. This is not a safe place for LGBT people, and at this point I feel it would be a shame to see LGBT travelers spend their money in the country.”

However, Sharp said that his company doesn’t treat all countries as black or white when it comes to anti-gay legal issues. For example, they run trips in Morocco where there are laws that prohibit same-sex sexual activity. The difference there, he explained, is that it is extremely rare for those laws to be enforced.

“We feel we are able to experience the culture in a respectful manner while maintaining the safety of our passengers, and supporting businesses that share our values,” he said.

“We typically recommend that travelers stay away from dating apps while in these countries and refrain from any public displays of affection. This is also a very flexible approach that can change very quickly. If a government changes its stance or starts enforcing old laws, we will quickly adapt—ensuring our client safety is the number one priority.”

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IGLTA’s President/CEO, John Tanzella, warned that the recent events in Egypt represent a bad move for the country’s tourism industry.

“The violence perpetrated against the LGBTQ community of Egypt is an affront to human rights and an insult to the tourism industry that supports its numerous historical sites—an industry that includes people of all orientations and gender identities,” Tanzella said.

“Data shows, time and again, that destinations endorsing discrimination suffer socially and financially; Egypt needs to rethink its actions if it wants to maintain its standing with global travelers.”

Philip Sheldon, President of HE Travel, said that his company has offered gay tours to Egypt nearly every year since the late 1970s when founder Hanns Ebensten led the first gay tour there.

“The only exception was the first three to four years after the Arab Spring, when the political situation was too unstable for us to ensure our standards there,” Sheldon said.

“For the third year in a row, we have a tour in Egypt that includes Cairo and a week on the Nile, which has been our traditional itinerary. Unfortunately, we do not feel comfortable offering our extension to Alexandria and to the Siwa Oasis that we ran for several years following our main tour. Instead, we have an extension to Petra and Amman on Jordan.”

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Sheldon noted that during the 17 years he has owned HE Travel, every few years the Egyptian government has made anti-gay gestures, such as when 52 men were arrested on the Queen Boat floating gay nightclub in 2011.

“When these incidents have hit the news [and] we are publicizing our Nile in Style tour, we have received a handful of angry calls and emails asking us to boycott Egypt,” he said.

“We do not boycott Egypt because we are able to be discreetly out while in Egypt in a way that local men often cannot be. Egyptian gay contacts have told us that because we dress and behave respectfully when visiting their conservative land, it actually helps them, and we can be discreet models for young Egyptian men—and occasionally women, although lesbians have not been harassed as much as gay men there.”