Mzanzitravel Magazine Issue 10

9. Popular gyms for workouts - nd3000 / iStock
country. Theatre, the visual arts, music events, and the hospitality and restaurant
industry all welcome and embrace LGBT tourists.
The country also hosts a relatively large number of Gay Pride style and other
LGBT festivals and parades each year. Among them are Cape Town Pride in
February, Durban Pride in June/July, Durban Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in
August/September, eKurhuleni Pride, Johannesburg Pride in October, Pretoria
LGBTI Pride in October, Mr & Miss Pretoria Gay Pride, Khumbulani Pride in Cape
Town’s Gugulethu township in May, Limpopo Pride in Polokwane, Mother City
Queer project in Cape Town in December, Mr Gay South Africa in Gauteng in
November, Nelson Mandela Bay Pride in Port Elizabeth, Pink Loeri Mardi Gras in
Knysna in May, and the Soweto Pride in September.
Cape Town, widely known as the Mother City, has also earned itself the nickname
of the ‘pink city’ for its vibrant and diverse LGBT community, night life and many
events. Areas with active gay communities or ‘villages’, as well as tourism
accommodation and other offerings, are De Waterkant, Green Point and other
areas adjacent to the V&A Waterfront, Sea Point, Clifton, Camps Bay and Hout
Bay among others, but not limited to these areas In Johannesburg LGBT visitors
will find thriving and active gay communities in areas such as Melville, Melrose
Arch, and parts of Sandton and Midrand. Morningside in Durban is another gayfriendly
suburb with an active gay community.
Attractions
Similar events have also been held in other smaller cities such as Bloemfontein,
Pietermaritzburg, Nelspruit, Mahikeng, and Klerksdorp.
Tourism market
In previous years the LGBT tourism sector was considered to be a relatively small,
insulated niche market. But in recent years it has grown globally into a major
sector of the overall tourism market, with LGBT travellers in 2016 spending around
US$211-billion globally. This represented a growth rate of around 27% since
2011, when spending totalled around US$165-billion.
And yet the market in South Africa, while it has grown substantially in recent
years, still remains untapped in many respects. Commenting in an article on
Tourismupdate.co.za the CEO of major tour bus company Springbok Atlas, Glenn
McKeag, said: “I do think this market is still very untouched when it comes to
discovering Africa and the South African experience.”
Many leaders in the local tourism industry believe LGBT tourism is well-positioned
as a key growth market for South Africa.
Active gay communities
Writing on expatica.com, Howie Holben, who owns and runs Spirit Journeys, a
spiritual gay travel tours organization, says:
“South Africa was a gay travel destination long before it became the first country in
the world with a constitution outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation
and the fifth country to legalize same-sex marriage. With the fall of apartheid
and these two historic gay rights events, the allure of South Africa has increased
substantially among both straight and gay travellers. From the glorious beaches
of the Western Cape to the fast-paced excitement of Gauteng, South Africa is the
gay-friendliest country on the continent.”
Attractions for LGBT tourists coming to South Africa are plentiful. Apart from many
accommodation establishments that cater specifically for this community, the arts
and theatre, good restaurants and nightlife and the country’s natural, cultural and
historic tourism offerings, and the many LGBT parades and festivals, there are
plenty more that draws members of the LGBT community to our shores.
In most cities there are men-only gay bars or gay and lesbian bars and clubs such
as Café Manhattan, Crew Bar, Amsterdam Action Bar, and Versatile Bar in Cape
Town; The Factory, Risque, Cosmos, Tomb Stone, Moloko, and Babylon (Centurion
and Johannesburg) in Johannesburg; The Lounge and Club Altitude in Durban;
and Camp David in Pretoria. There are numerous LGBT-serving magazines, as
62 |ISSUE 10|www.mzanzitravel.co.za | MZANZITRAVEL