Berlin, 4 November 2013 Strategic international partnership for Gay and Lesbian tourism: ITB Berlin of Messe Berlin and visitBerlin have agreed on close collaboration in the future to target their promotion more directly to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual persons and develop the segment in global tourism. The agreement, signed at ITB Asia in Singapore, brings together the expertise of both partners: ITB Berlin provides experience from its long-standing commitment and global event network. visitBerlin promotes the German capital around the world as an attractive destination for LGBT travellers (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender).

Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin, remarks: "Berlin is a tolerant and cosmopolitan city and one of the world's leading LGBT destinations. visitBerlin is putting more focus on marketing to this target group, because gay and lesbian travel is a fast-growing, high-revenue segment in the international travel industry."

Plans for International Trade Fairs and Conferences

Recently, the Berlin float presented by visitBerlin in collaboration with the Christopher Street Day at NYC Pride garnered a lot of attention in New York for the gay- and lesbian-friendly German capital. In the future, visitBerlin will be advertising extensively at selected events at Messe Berlin: special exhibition booths at the gay & lesbian pavilion at ITB Berlin in March 2014; the integration in the gay & lesbian pavilion at ITB Berlin international trade fairs; and in the "pink corner" at ITB Asia in Singapore in October 2014. In addition, Berlin is positioning itself at conferences and workshops of the ITB Academy around the world as a pioneer in best practices in “diversity marketing”, which includes not only LGBT issues, but also accessibility.

pink pillow Berlin Collection

Since the beginning of the year, visitBerlin has been promoting LGBT tourism with the pink pillow Berlin Collection, a one-of-a-kind programme that is setting the standard around the world. This initiative is a way for Berlin hotels to brand themselves as especially welcoming to gay and lesbian visitors to Germany's capital. All participating establishments accept a special charter, committing the hotel to value all guests equally. They must also engage in social projects for the LGBT scene and be prepared to offer guests information on the LGBT scene in Berlin. More than 50 hotels have already joined the project. The latest list can be found at pinkpillow-berlin.com.

Images and logo of the pink pillow Berlin Collection: flickr.com/photos/visitberlin