Geographical variation in alternative tourism and recreation establishments

Alternative or gay tourism is receiving greater attention in both the business and academic worlds. This segment of the tourism market is found to travel more frequently than the ‘straight’ market and is more recession-proof in their travel behaviour. Studies have indicated that gay tourism is, however, rather spatially concentrated in the United States and Western Europe. This research focuses on gay-orientated infrastructure as opposed to tourists. The paper looks at the spatial distribution of gay tourism and recreation establishments around the world. It was found that even though the clustering of such infrastructure does indeed occur in the USA and Western Europe, certain places exist as ‘islands’ of regional importance in the gay travel network. These ‘islands’ could be marketed as emerging gay centres in efforts to broaden the gay travel market.