GAY travel is worth an estimated $100 billion worldwide, so new company GayCairns is launching a tourism campaign to bring some "pink dollar" profit to the Far North.

Called go2GayCairns, the campaign is in the development stage, kicking off with a competition to find faces for advertising material.

Founder Jay Horne said the company wanted the faces of the campaign to reflect its tone.

"We want people who will seduce travellers here, but not sleazy, we want it to be bright and happy," he said.

Mr Horne said the idea for the campaign came from the lack of gay-friendly tourism information about the Cairns region.

"It started when we were looking on websites for information and found everything about gay travel in this region is out of date," he said.

"Friends were coming from overseas and we wanted to give them a website to show them what they could do here.

"We’ve listened to everybody talk about the tourism decline and we thought, well, there is a whole market that no one has thought about."

Mr Horne said showcasing the Cairns environment and promoting it as a gay friendly region was paramount to the campaign’s success, so the website www.go2GayCairns.com would allow customers to book accommodation and tours, learn about the region and gain up-to-date information.

Member for Cairns and Assistant Minister for Tourism Gavin King said attracting the gay market would be a positive for Cairns.

"Anything that attracts more travellers to our region and diversifies our tourism industry is a plus, even more so this particular niche that go2GayCairns are targeting – who are known for staying longer and spending more when they arrive," Mr King said.

Mr Horne said the campaign would shine a light on the region as a whole and would not be limited to gay-specific resorts.

NEW CAIRNS.COM.AU COMMENT POLICY
We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Comments submitted without a full name and suburb/location will not be considered for publication. Please read our full comment policy and publication guidelines.

Share this article