Chapel Hill woos gay tourists

Terri Phoenix, the director of UNC LGBTQ Center, holds a sign while helping promote the N.C. Pride Parade. DTH/Eli Sinkus

Local tourism promoters are trying to tap into a $70.3 billion national gay and lesbian travel market by hosting an event for representatives from the industry beginning today.

The Chapel Hill/Orange County’s Visitor’s Bureau will host the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association symposium through Sunday.

“We want to market to people who can present our information to a large audience,” bureau director Laurie Paolicelli said. “We are looking at this from a purely economic perspective.”

The event’s timing coincides with the N.C. Pride festival, an annual celebration featuring a parade, this weekend in Durham.

The symposium will market Southern culture, restaurants, hotels and nightlife in Chapel Hill to representatives of the gay travel industry.

“Gay ethos is interwoven into who we are as a community, which makes Chapel Hill an attractive destination for the gay community,” said Paolicelli. “They can kiss and hold hands and not worry about jeers or cat calls.”

But sophomore Billy Kluttz, outreach coordinator for UNC’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender -Straight Alliance, said he feels that the bureau is being opportunistic.

“Industry only cares about the queer community when it is profitable,” he said. “They ignore our political and social struggles on a daily basis and fail to support us when we truly need it.”

Paolicelli said the event is needed because Chapel Hill in recent years has lost gay tourism to Durham and Asheville.

The 33 attendees of the symposium include representatives from travel agencies, airlines and publications such as The Advocate, Creative Loafing and Passport Magazine.

“Chapel Hill offers a Southern quaintness that is very attractive to young gay professionals,” said junior Enrique Perez, a freelance writer attending the event for Passport Magazine. “The South is an under-the-radar gold mine for gay travel.”

Chapel Hill Town Council member and mayoral candidate Mark Kleinschmidt, who is gay, said gays often travel more frequently and have more disposable income than other tourists.

“Tourism is the lifeblood of Chapel Hill, and it is essential that we appeal to them,” he said.

Three openly gay local government officials — Kleinschmidt, Carrboro Alderman Lydia Lavelle and county commissioner Mike Nelson — will speak at the event.

Paolicelli said she anticipates the event will cost $8,000 to $10,000 but that it can be easily recouped if gay tourism rates increase.

She said she wants representatives of the travel industry to start thinking about Orange County as a vacation destination that accepts all people.

“We would also like to see the business of our hotels and downtown restaurants increase.”

The event’s itinerary includes a cooking class at A Southern Season, dinner at Crook’s Corner and a tour of Triangle nightlife.

 Attendees are told to visit West End Wine Bar in Chapel Hill and gay nightclubs in Raleigh such as Legends, The CC and Flex Club.

GLBTSA publicity co-chairman Will Davis said Chapel Hill lacks a thriving gay nightlife, and he would rather visit bigger cities.

“I could see Chapel Hill attracting the 30- to 40-something set, but no one in their 20s,” Davis said. “I find it hard to think of Chapel Hill as a vacation destination.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.