MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

More than 25 million gays live in Latin America and spend billions travelling

LGBT consumers in Brazil spend 20 billion USD on tourism

There is a largely untapped lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) market in Latin America, according to a recent survey.

Research from the 2010 Out Now Global LGBT Study has revealed that more than 25 million LGBT people live in Latin America and they spend billions on leisure travel every year.

LGBT consumers in Argentina spent 4 billion US dollars on tourism, while Mexicans spent 8 billion and Brazilians paid out 20 billion.

Out Now Founder and CEO Ian Johnson identified Brazil is the largest growth market. “Not only is Brazil the clear number one destination in the Latin American region for inbound LGBT travellers from countries including the US, UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands - it is also the largest LGBT outbound tourism market in the region,” explained Johnson.

”LGBT consumers around the world are increasingly the focus of attention from global marketers. After years of being ignored, this is a largely welcome development; however response of consumers to any corporate overtures will depend very much on how companies conduct themselves in their marketing efforts” said Johnson.