City officials for the first time are specifically targeting gay and lesbian travelers, to help meet Mayor Bloomberg‘s goal of drawing 50 million visitors to the Big Apple by 2015, The Post has learned.
NYC & Company, the city’s tourism arm, took out a three-page ad in the December/January issue of Out, a popular gay- and lesbian-interest magazine.
The agency also has launched a $30 million, 19-country campaign called “This is New York City.”
Commercials have also been placed on LOGO, a national cable network that tailors its programming to gay viewers. They will be aired over the coming weeks.
There will also be ads on similarly themed gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Web sites – and advertising will be stepped up next year around Valentine’s Day.
NYC & Company said it is reaching out to the demographic because it contains a large number of big spenders, usually with two incomes and no children. They are “highly desirable and considered a dream market due to high incidence of travel and discretionary income,” said one Bloomberg administration official.
“What we’re saying is, ‘This is New York, and it’s for everyone, whether you are a family or you’re just here with your lover.’ ”
Similar campaigns have been successful in Philadelphia, Chicago and Phoenix. Airlines and hotel chains have used advertising targeted at same-sex couples.
That the Big Apple had not previously advertised to gays and lesbians “is obviously an omission that has hurt the city,” Christine Quinn, the City Council’s first openly gay speaker, told the networking group Out Professionals last week.
“Tourism is money, and that’s a good thing so were working right now with NYC & Company to fix that omission and come up with a good . . . outreach plan, and we’d love for folks input and advice on that.”
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