The LGBTQ+ travel market is no longer a niche. It is a demographic powerhouse.

The LGBTQ+ community in the U.S., already tens of millions strong, is fast-growing: Gallup data from February shows that 9% of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ+, a figure that has grown significantly since 2012, when it stood at 3.5%. The shift is even more dramatic for younger travelers: 23% of those under 30, or nearly one in four, identify as LGBTQ+. 

And as the LGBTQ+ market expands, it is branching out. For travel advisors, the “rainbow” is becoming increasingly nuanced, with clients exhibiting different risk tolerances, destination preferences and travel styles. Indeed, the modern LGBTQ+ traveler is no longer looking for the typical “gay destination.” Instead, they are searching for authentic encounters that enable them to experience the world.

From seeking out remote, farther-flung destinations alongside like-minded adventurers to booking blockbuster group trips with their chosen families, travel sellers are catering to many trends in the LGBTQ+ landscape.

Here are four that are shaping the space today.

The rise of queer expedition travel

For Kelli Carpenter’s clients, there’s comfort — and confidence — in traveling together. Lately, she’s seeing her predominantly LGBTQ+ travelers venturing farther afield, with increasing group requests for expedition cruises and land tours.

 “I’m seeing a real trend of people wanting to travel together in a group and go to places they normally would not feel safe going to,” said Carpenter, founding partner of KelliGreggTravel, which recently had groups in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Egypt.

 Carpenter, who alternates leading trips with her business partner, has been selling travel for 24 years. Her groups range in size from 20 to 200 travelers, and about 30% are repeat customers. She credits a large part of her success to word-of-mouth referrals within the LGBTQ+ community.

 “One great thing that I always say about our group travel is that you’re never going to feel alone,” she said. “You’re never going to eat alone, you’re never going to tour alone, and you’re going to be embraced.”

 This is especially important for the LGBTQ+ segment, a niche that Carpenter said was originally “created for safety.” Her agency recently hosted an Egypt group booked in partnership with Uniworld Boutique River Cruises that was inspired by Carpenter’s desire to go to the country with her wife but being hesitant about traveling on their own. Law enforcement has used laws regarding morality and indecency to target LGBTQ+ people.

“LGBTQ+ people can face serious legal and social challenges there,” she said. “Public attitudes toward same-sex couples can be deeply conservative and at times openly hostile. Traveling with a group gave us an added sense of safety with experienced local guides, structured transportation and the comfort of being surrounded by other travelers. We felt more confident navigating cultural norms while still experiencing the incredible history and beauty of Egypt.”

Carpenter stressed that pretrip education with both clients and her supplier partners is key. For travelers, this means predeparture lessons on what’s culturally appropriate, such as not trying to shake someone’s hand in Asia, to safety tips: for example, don’t sign into LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr in Egypt. And she always shares U.S. embassy information in case of emergency.

“I’m always very clear in the beginning on exactly what kind of group it is,” Carpenter said. “When [the group comprises] half men and half women, at first, visually, nobody actually realizes it’s an LGBTQ+ group. It’s important that people know that these are same-sex couples.”

That communication includes everything from making sure hotel amenities are appropriate — from the in-room welcome cards to the robe and slipper sizes — to specifying how clients should be grouped together during activities.

“Don’t assume that my wife and I are sisters,” she said. “Don’t assume anything. I’d rather somebody ask me. That’s why I’m there, and I can be the go-
between. Come to me, and I can clarify it, and it saves the client from having to do that one step that they shouldn’t have to do.”

Family: From chosen groups to parents

At Global Travel Moments in London and New York, travel among both chosen and new families is seeing a significant surge among LGBTQ+ clients, CEO Duncan Greenfield-Turk said.

Chosen-family travel, Greenfield-Turk said, is seeing growth in both small and large groups of friends who view each other as family, despite having no biological relationship. New-family travel is when an LGBTQ+ couple travels for the first time with children, an important milestone, he said.

Greenfield-Turk said he believes the pandemic is behind some of this demand. 

“It channeled people’s desire to travel and to travel more deeply, and it also created this desire to travel and connect more deeply,” he said. “The intentional purpose of the trip is far more important than just going for the ’gram.”

And while Greenfield-Turk has seen multigenerational travel in general skyrocket in the last 18 months, among all demographics, the nuances of chosen- and new-family travel are different because they involve LGBTQ+ clients.

For example, Global Travel Moments recently planned a chosen-family trip to Japan with about 11 travelers. 

“That was quite interesting, because you’re catering to a variety of wants, tastes, likes,” he said.

Often, the group trip is jump-started by an existing client of Greenfield-Turk’s who wants to pull in the people they’re closest to. 

While those trips are about creating bonds and shared memories, he said, it’s even deeper than that. 

“It’s also about them being able to go and celebrate queer culture in a different destination, in a different location, and really see what it’s like while doing things that they all have a passion for,” he said.

While groups always pose logistical challenges for advisors, with members flying from many different locations, that can be especially fraught with nonbinary or transgender travelers, where elements like passport gender markers come into play.

The same can be true for new-family travel. For instance, Greenfield-Turk is working with a couple who are both trans and want to travel with their two children.

“I think there is a real nuance in how you work with travelers that are, first of all, queer — could be same-sex, could be trans, could be nonbinary — and then you have children,” he said. “Especially given the state of the world. There’s a lot of legality that you need to consider in these situations.”

That often plays out in ensuring that clients bring the proper documents, he said. For instance, parents traveling solo with a child should always bring proper documentation and a letter of consent from the parent staying behind. But the importance of proper paperwork is heightened for the LGBTQ+ community.

“There are all these things to consider, but then you throw in the nuance of governments that are making it harder for queer people to travel, and so now you’ve got to think about that,” Greenfield-Turk said.

The resiliency factor

In late February, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, experienced a brief spate of cartel-related violence. While most tourists were unaffected by the upheaval, bookings to the country did suffer in the aftermath.

One group that wasn’t deterred from going back to Puerto Vallarta but in fact was eager to return was gay travelers.

“After the cartel issues in Puerto Vallarta, very few of us were turned off from visiting,” said Scott Wismont, founder of Rainbow Getaways in Kissimmee, Fla. “Instead, it was, ‘How quickly can we get back to going here?’”

For example, he said one couple that was making plans to go to Puerto Vallarta this spring, not long after the upheaval happened, put down a deposit despite the uncertainty.

“We’re risk-averse, but we’re not willing to give up the freedom to see the world,” Wismont said.

The resiliency of the gay community is a trend that Wismont has noticed for the past few years. 

He used the pandemic as another example: In his experience, gay travelers were one of the first demographics to get back to traveling. In fact, many never stopped but just adjusted their travel style, such as visiting domestic destinations instead of international ones. 

“It really carries forward every time something happens,” he said. “We are one of the first people who want to travel again.”

As to why, Wismont has a theory.

“We don’t want to live inauthentically, especially for the people who lived closeted,” he said. “I think this really stems from that: We had to live a certain way for so long, and now we are going to live the way that we want to. And for the people who feel that travel is an important part of who they are, they want to make sure they’re doing it.”

Beyond the ‘gayborhood’

That resilience is also on display when it comes to less-than-welcoming destinations. 

Scott Wismont, founder of Rainbow Getaways, pointed to Egypt, which despite its unwelcoming attitude toward same-sex couples is a destination that some gay travelers want to visit.

“We will make it happen, and we’ll do what we have to do to go,” he said.

For a long time, LGBTQ+ travelers sought out travel that was particularly welcoming to the community, whether it was a gay cruise, a specific neighborhood within a destination or a gay-friendly all-inclusive resort, said Mike Salvadore, owner and co-president of 58 Stars Travel in Seattle.

And while safety remains a priority, these “gay destinations” are no longer at the top of his clients’ lists. In recent years, he’s seen a shift within the community: “They want to go to places to experience things the way everyone else would, but they want to be safe, and they want to make sure safety is not going to be a concern on their trip.”

It’s how Salvadore travels with his husband. The couple wants to feel safe, “but we also want to meet a place on its own terms. The food, the culture, the history, time with people who actually live there.”

It’s about seeing a full picture of a destination, not just a narrow slice. Importantly, he said, that sometimes includes LGBTQ+ experiences — but sometimes it doesn’t.

“Community and connection still matter, but that’s no longer the driving motivation for most of our clients, as evidenced by an increase in ‘off-pride’ travel to traditionally gay destinations,” he said.

Salvadore said he believes that shift has coincided with consumers’ increasing awareness of travel advisors. The ability to work with a professional who can advise on topics like travel for LGBTQ+ people has made a difference.

He looked at himself 15 years ago, before he was in the travel industry, as an example: “I would have had no idea, really, what to do, other than go online.” 

In that space, he would have been met by sponsored ads for gay cruises and all-inclusives.

“It’s really shifted as travel advisors have come back into our cultural norm at this point,” Salvadore said.