BAGUIO CITY—The controversy on the gay wedding held in Baguio City held last month is not about to die down. If anything, it has spurred heated debates from all fronts. One major issue that has emerged is tourism, since the country’s summer capital considers tourism as a major attraction.
For one, a member of the city council fears that Baguio will earn the title as the “gay capital” of the Philippines if same-sex weddings are encouraged here. And he believes tourists would shun the City of Pines if this happens.
But a pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church, who officiated the wedding ceremony, was quick to point out that tourism in New York, for one, is expected to surge after it was announced that gay marriages have become legal there.
The New York announcement coincided with the day eight gay and lesbian couples were wed here, an event sponsored by the Baguio Pride Network, a coalition of lesbian, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders (LGBT) and supporters here.
The issue does not seem to faze Anthony de Leon, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio, whose members include the city’s major tourism-industry players.
“It’s a free country,” he said, when asked about the issue.
He said he believes that people “should live and let live.” He acknowledged that the Baguio Country Club, where he is the general manager, has gay employees whom he said the club relies on for their creativity.
“I don’t find anything wrong with that. Anyone must be welcome to Baguio, whatever their gender may be,” he said.
De Leon said his stance is not even about boosting tourism; it’s just that he believes everybody must have equal rights.
The pink dollar
Gay tourism is, in fact, a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide. It has been reported that this market comprises 10 percent of total international tourists or about 70 million arrivals worldwide.
One big reason is that members of the LGBT community look for destinations that welcome them and where they can be comfortable to be “open,” especially when they are closeted at home. Gay tourism, sometimes called “pink tourism,” has spun pop-culture terms such as the “pink dollar”—or even “pink baht”—to refer to the spending habits of LGBTs.
According to Wikipedia, the gay and lesbian segment was estimated to be a $55-billion annual market—back in 2007. Travel agents, tour companies, cruise lines and travel advertisers, aware of the income advantages of this niche market, have aligned themselves with the LGBT community.
Even the small Himalayan country of Nepal has a Tourism Year 2011 program that promotes gay tourism and targets 1 million visitors from the LBGT community. Nepal is the first country in South Asia to decriminalize homosexuality, according to Internet reports.
Tourism has decreased by 33 percent in Baguio City from January to March compared with the same period last year. De Leon blames it on “wrong perceptions” about the city that persist among tourists in connection with recent “negative events” in the city, such as the meningococcemia scare in 2006 and the disaster wrought by Typhoon Pepeng in 2009.
Will “gay weddings,” which the Baguio Pride group says it will pursue, gain for the city the same rewards as what is happening in New York and make the city another niche marker for pink tourism?
As the battle of the sexes heats up Baguio’s cool climate, the answer remains to be seen.
