Safari Experiences See Opportunity With More LGBTQ+ Families
Skift Take
The default perception for the LGBTQ+ travel market brings to mind Pride parades and dance festivals that resonate with gay solo travelers or same-sex couples.
However, it couldn't be further from the emerging trend of LGBTQ+ family travel, said David Ryan, founder and CEO of Rhino Africa and Out2Africa, a bespoke LGBTQ+ tour operator based in South Africa.
Ryan, who has been in the safari industry for more than 19 years, told Skift that it's something he has noted, even as revenge luxury travel and multi-gen travel saw same-sex couples spending in excess of $23,000 on a 10-day, multi-stop experience across Southern and Eastern Africa during 2022, for example.
Out2Africa chief of sales officer Waathiq Hilton said while the company does not specifically breakout its bookings data into LGBTQ+ families, as it does specifically with same-sex couples, the average booking data for 2022 showed a 40 percent increase of LGBTQ+ travel overall, when compared to 2019, with an average booking value for the period sitting at $13 600 for a 12-day trip.
Hilton said the traction for Out2Africa's LGBTQ+ curated offering has gained significant traction compared to 2019, with the company's recovery marketing budget seeing visitors to its platform exceed forecast projections by 40 percent, to reach 140 percent.
"Our conversion of visitors to our platform to actual dropped enquiries, and then enquiries to bookings has also seen a 50 percent increase against 2019's performance.
"This tells us confidence in traveling
