When the IGLTA Foundation’s Gender Diverse Travel Advisory
Group published its Trans & Gender
Diverse Travel Guide: A Roadmap for Safe and Enjoyable Travel last fall, it
sent a clear message: there is still a need for education about what trans and
gender-diverse travelers need and want from the travel and tourism industries.
The guide, created in collaboration with IGLTA and supported
by Away, a travel lifestyle brand, and the Arcus Foundation, a grantmaking
organization, addresses practical concerns including local laws, travel
documents, medical necessities and border crossings.
The timing is crucial for this new guide, according to LoAnn
Halden, vice president of communications and marketing for IGLTA. “There is a
significant, growing information gap,” she said. “In many regions, official
guidance for trans and gender-diverse travelers is unavailable, outdated, or
difficult to make sense of. This community has long been filling that gap on
its own — researching destinations, sharing information and creating their own
roadmaps for navigating the world with confidence. While this guide is written
for the traveler, we also hope it gives our members — and the greater tourism
industry — a clearer picture of the realities and considerations these
travelers are managing,” she added.
Visibility, Safety
and Understanding
Progress has been uneven for trans and gender-diverse
travelers, according to Coach Bailie, the Napa, California-based community
relations coordinator at On The Move,
a social justice organization, and founder of the Queer Leaders Coalition.
Their work with tourism organizations and local businesses has provided Bailie
with a hands-on understanding of the segment’s evolution.
“Trans and gender-diverse travelers are more visible than we
were ten years ago, but visibility and safety are not the same thing,” said
Bailie, who uses they/them pronouns. “In some ways, we are seen more clearly.
In other ways, we are being targeted more directly.”
Increased visibility is undeniable. “Ten years ago, many
conversations about LGBTQ+ travel still centered mostly on gay and lesbian
travelers, nightlife, pride destinations or same-sex couples,” Bailie
explained. “Today, there is more public language around transgender, nonbinary,
Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people. More people are traveling openly. More
brands are using inclusive imagery. More destinations understand that LGBTQ+
inclusion has to include gender identity and gender expression.”
But, as anyone who follows the news understands, there are
fresh challenges. “At the same time, the actual travel experience has become
more complicated and, in some places, more frightening,” they added. “Anti-trans
laws, bathroom restrictions, ID issues and political hostility mean that trans
and nonbinary travelers are often doing a second layer of planning that other travelers never have to think about.”
That plays out in a variety of ways, Bailie explained. “As a
nonbinary person, I don’t just ask, ‘Where do I want to go?’” they said. “I
also ask, ‘Will I be safe there? Will my ID create problems? Will I be
misgendered at check-in? Will I have to explain myself just to use a restroom?’
That extra calculation is part of the travel experience for many of us.”
How Travel Advisors
Can Help
That “extra calculation” is where travel advisors can play a
crucial role, according to Adrienne Aragon, founder of Osaviva Travel, a boutique agency specializing
in Latin America and the Caribbean. “We regularly work with LGBTQ+ travelers,
including gender-diverse clients, and one thing that continues to surprise me
is how many of their concerns aren’t about the destination, but instead, the
countless minor exchanges and interactions that occur throughout a trip,” she
said. “It’s easy to assume that if a destination is LGBTQ+-friendly or if a
hotel’s site shows a rainbow flag icon, there is nothing more to worry about. In
reality, our clients wonder how they’ll be treated at the airport, when
checking into hotels, by guides and drivers and by locals and other travelers.”
Aragon describes multiple situations that can be less than
welcoming for trans and gender-diverse travelers. “We’ve had honeymooners who
arrived at resorts to find welcome cards with the wrong pronouns,” Aragon said.
“Clients who were repeatedly misgendered, called ‘Mr.’ or ‘Mrs.’ even after
sharing their pronouns in advance. Others have experienced airport agents
asking insensitive questions loudly in public, or hotel staff telling them not
to use pool restrooms.”
Helping travelers find safe and welcoming travel experiences
is an important role for advisors, she adds. “As an advisor, my job goes beyond
trip design,” Aragon said. “We match LGBTQ+ clients to places where they’re
accepted and celebrated. But even in the most inclusive destinations, we plan
for the unexpected. I advocate for clients before and during their trip,
vetting hotels and local partners to ensure they provide sensitivity training
and are committed to inclusivity. We collect pronouns as part of our routine
intake and ask guests how they’d like to be addressed so we can share that with
service providers. We guide clients on cultural norms so they know what to
expect and can decide if they’re comfortable traveling somewhere. Much of this
work happens behind the scenes, long before a client boards a plane.”
LGBT Pride March. (Photo Credit: zera ruzgar / Adobe Stock)
Operational Inclusion
Destinations and businesses need to take a thoughtful,
year-round approach to welcoming trans and gender-diverse travelers, according
to Bailie. “Marketing can invite us in, but operations tell us whether we were
actually expected,” they said. “A rainbow flag on the website does not help
much if the front desk misgenders you, the booking form erases you or the
bathroom situation puts you on alert. Inclusion has to survive contact with the
actual guest experience.”
Bailie used the Napa
Valley as an example of a destination that takes a positive approach.
"For Napa Pride, when we talk to businesses about welcoming LGBTQ+ residents
and visitors, we are not just talking about rainbow flags,” they said. “We are
talking about whether people can walk into a hotel, restaurant, tasting room or
event and feel that their presence has already been considered. The biggest
concerns are safety, dignity and whether the destination has done more than symbolic inclusion.”
Supplier Initiatives
The tour operator Intrepid
Travel is among the suppliers that provide resources for diverse travelers
as well as travel advisors selling this segment. The company offers a free LGBTQIA+
digital travel guide with information about destinations, safety
considerations, customs and local laws. The guide also features first-person
stories, including Sasha's experience as the company's first transgender
leader.
“Travel is a powerful thing,” said Leigh Barnes, president
of the Americas at Intrepid Travel. “It opens minds, connects cultures and
builds empathy. But for LGBTQIA+ travelers, it can still come with a layer of
risk, caution or code-switching. That’s why we’re not quiet. While some brands
are shrinking away, we’re showing up. Loud. Proud. And global.”
In Napa, Bailie points to the Business and Hospitality Pride
Guide as an example of how organizations and destinations can help businesses better
understand diverse travelers.
At a time of year when many entities trumpet pride-hued
marketing, Bailie said it’s especially important to look at the big picture. “I
trust destinations less by what they say in June and more by what they do in
July, August and the rest of the year,” they said.
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