South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
S. Florida cities rank highly for LGBTQ holiday travelers
If you’re gay and looking to get away for the holidays, chances are you’ll be visiting South Florida.
Four local cities — Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach and Oakland Park — ranked among the most indemand gay-friendly global cities for LGBTQ travelers during the holidays.
That’s according to the newly released Holiday LGBTQ Travel Ranking from misterb&b, a website that connects LGBTQ travelers with short-term rental apartments and private rooms.
The website looked at year-round online searches for bookings and travel for the holidays and also factored in whether the city has legalized same-sex marriage and hate-crime protection laws in place. (They considered the holiday season beginning with Thanksgiving.)
Wilton Manors, which just elected an all-LGBTQ commission during the midterm elections, ranked No. 1 on the list, followed by Palm Springs (California), Fort Lauderdale, Cathedral City (California) and Miami Beach.
Rounding out the top 10 for gay holiday travel were Provincetown (Massachusetts) Wailuku (Hawaii), Rio de Janeiro, the Limehouse district of London and Nashville.
Other Florida cities that made the list were St. Petersburg, which came in No. 11, and Oakland Park at No. 16.
Most likely helping boost South Florida as a travel destination for gays is the fact that the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau became the first nationally to have someone assigned to cultivating the LGBTQ tourism market. US. News & World Report has released its rankings of the top cruise lines in the country, and South Florida is well represented. Miami-based Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival cruise lines were ranked in several categories.