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 Travel & Outdoors | May 2006 
Buenos Aires Opening Arms to Gays
 James Scott - The Post and Courier
| | "Most gay and lesbian travelers surf the Net to find what suits their needs. Gay travelers look for safe, accepting places." |
Buenos Aires - For vacation, partners Keith Millard and Lad Mednansky debated whether to hit the beaches of Greece or the Latin capital Buenos Aires.
The two San Diego dentists, who have been together for a year and a half, already had crossed off the list several other known gay travel spots, including Mexico's Puerto Vallarta, Costa Rica and Spain's vanguard capital, Barcelona.
"We knew it was a gay destination with a great nightlife," Millard, 45, said of Buenos Aires. "We were looking to stay in a gay-friendly area."
Scores of gay and lesbian travelers, such as Millard and Mednansky, are pouring into Buenos Aires, taking advantage of the devalued peso and the city's open atmosphere, highlighted by the passage several years ago of Latin America's first civil union law.
A cottage industry of nearly three dozen gay-friendly travel agencies, clubs and restaurants has opened, many in the city's historic San Telmo neighborhood that is developing into Buenos Aires' equivalent of San Francisco's Castro.
Outside of traditional businesses, companies have popped up offering everything from gay Spanish and tango classes to a gay radio station that broadcasts on the Web.
The seaside resort city Mar del Plata even boasts a nearby gay beach.
The industry recently got a boost when the Barcelona-based Hotel Axel, an exclusive gay hotel that opened two years ago, announced plans to build the first five-star, gay-only hotel off Venezuela Street in San Telmo.
"Buenos Aires is so gay-friendly that you can go anywhere and feel comfortable," said Carlos Melia, owner of Pride Travel, the city's first gay travel agency. "Buenos Aires is very, very open."
Booming business
City officials don't track how many of the estimated 7 million annual visitors to Buenos Aires are gay, though some officials publicly have estimated that it could be as much as 20 percent of the roughly 4 million yearly international travelers.
Marco Palacios, president of Argentine Chamber of Tourism, said it's a growing market. "Gay travelers typically have a lot of money," he said. "Both members of the relationship often work, don't have children and have more available money to spend."
Gay travel is a booming business, according to the Florida-based International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association that tracks the industry.
Officials there estimate gay travelers pump more than $65 billion a year into tourism markets worldwide.
Rosemary Hopkins, the global sales and marketing director for the travel group, said that much of the growth has occurred in the past five years.
"Most gay and lesbian travelers surf the Net to find what suits their needs," she said. "Gay travelers look for safe, accepting places."
In Buenos Aires, Melia is widely viewed as the godfather of gay travel. In March 2004, he opened Pride Travel on Paraguay Street. The business, which he started alone, has grown to a half-dozen employees.
Melia publishes the Ronda guide, the city's first gay city guide for tourists, and a monthly magazine called Pride Travel News. He also runs a Web site, www.bestfriendlyhotels.com, that lists gay-friendly hotels.
"I saw a need and a market," said Melia, who is a board member with the IGLTA. "It's a huge market here now. We saw the need for our customers to have important information."
Six months ago, Mario Villafane opened the gay-friendly Lihuel-Calel bed-and-breakfast with his former partner, Alvaro Combis, in a building that is more than 100 years old on Reconquista Street.
Located just a few blocks from Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo, the bed-and-breakfast, with hardwood floors and towering ceilings, boasts five rooms ranging from $50-$75 a night, each named for a famous Argentine from revolutionary Che Guevara to Evita Peron.
"We didn't want to be just a bed-and-breakfast," said Villafane, adding that the plan is to make the bed-and-breakfast exclusively for gays in the near future. "We wanted to be something unique and distinct. Gay people are very comfortable staying here."
'I'll be back'
Efforts by Melia and others laid the foundation for the recent announcement that the Hotel Axel is planning a five-star hotel in San Telmo.
Nacho Rodriguez, the general manager of the Barcelona-based hotel, said that company officials eyed other locations in Europe before picking Buenos Aires for its second hotel.
Rodriguez said the hotel will have 50 rooms, two pools, a restaurant and spa. It is expected to open in April.
"It has everything you would expect out of a hotel of this caliber," said Rodriguez. "It's in a historic part of the city, has the flavor of the city and is in a tourist area, as well."
Hong Kong resident Ian Yapp has been to Buenos Aires several times, starting in 1983. The 49-year-old airline manager is now considering buying property here.
"As a gay city, it has one of the best scenes with great bars, clubs and restaurants," said Yapp. "I will always be back for more." |
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