For some reason this made me laugh. Was it the title? Probably.

Portland has always gone after the seasoned traveler. The city's natural beauty draws big money from empty nesters, retired people and cultural tourists. The Portland Oregon Visitors Association also wants to tout the city as a destination for gay and lesbian visitors.

With an updated travel brochure due out this summer, the visitors association plans to highlight the city's new gay friendly clubs and culture -- along with the beautiful scenery, vibrant culinary scene and tax-free shopping.

It couldn't come at a better time. Last year, Multnomah County put itself on the map as a gay-friendly area when it issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

"Nationally, that opened peoples' eyes to who Portland is," says David Paisley of Community Marketing Inc., a San Francisco research firm. "Until that time, gay and lesbians outside of the Pacific Northwest didn't really know Portland."

Gay and lesbian travelers tend to mirror the cultural traveler: They spend more money on travel, take many longer trips, stay in hotels and spend more money shopping and on cultural activities than typical tourists. The travel industry can't ignore that group, which spends $54 million a year on travel just in the United States.

"That's 10 percent of the travel market," says Barbara Steinfield, director of tourism development for the visitors association. To capture some of that money, Portland must compete with well-known gay-friendly cities such as San Francisco and Philadelphia. In the past two years, the visitors association spent about $24,000 on advertising and trade shows to do just that. It was, for example, one of 90 cities with a booth at the Gay and Lesbian World Travel Expo in Seattle in March.

The updated brochure -- first created two years ago -- will help.

But it's already outdated, says Debbie Caselton of the Portland Area Business Association, the city's gay and lesbian chamber of commerce. "Now, there are many more choices for night clubs and for gay-owned restaurants," she says.

Last year, the visitors association joined with Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., to create the Pacific Northwest Vacation Planner, marketed to gay and lesbian tourists. The publication included two local hotels -- the Hotel Vintage Plaza and Fifth Avenue Suites. Although Seattle listed several hotels, Paisley says, Portland continues to make strides.

"Nationally, the Pacific Northwest is ahead of the curve," says Paisley, who spoke earlier this month at a seminar to study the value of marketing to the gay and lesbian community. "There's still plenty of room to grow."

Story By Lori Mendoza

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 3:00 PM. Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.