The Ohio City B&B is one of hundreds of businesses, attractions and events listed in Cleveland's new gay travel guide (at right) now at the printers. The Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland developed the 28-page guide with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.
Cleveland, like many other cities already rolling out the rainbow carpet, considered the group a lucrative, untapped market worth pursuing. The bureau ordered 15,000 copies of the guide and plans the first major distribution at Cleveland's Pride Parade and Festival on June 16.
Plans for the guide elicited a mix of positive and negative comments, visitors bureau spokeswoman Samantha Fryberger said.
"There was a perception that we no longer planned to market to families," she said. "That's an incorrect assumption."
The bureau encourages visits from all types and has also produced African-American and multicultural guides and itineraries for everyone from lighthouse lovers to red-hat ladies.
For years, anecdotal evidence painted gay people as savvy tourists who travel often and spend big, Cathy Keefe, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Travel Industry Association, said earlier this year. The association commissioned a national Harris poll to test some of those theories.
The results, released in December, showed the average gay traveling group of 2.8 people spent an average of $2,940 per trip, compared with $2,870 per trip spent by the average heterosexual group of 3.8 people.
The survey also showed that nearly half the people questioned considered a destination's gay friendliness important when making travel choices.
The Cleveland LGBT guide includes information on museums, shopping, sports, cultural events and neighborhoods.
It also includes listings for gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses, from the Diverse Universe store in Lakewood to the Nickel lesbian bar and Snicker's restaurant and bar in Cleveland.
"It gives people a lot of options," LGBT Community Center Executive Director Sue Doerfer said.
Advertising paid for the guide. The visitors bureau contributed through information, staff time and photography.
For a copy of the guide, call the bureau at 216-621-4110 or (starting Monday) download it from www.travelcleveland.com.