With LGBT travellers expected to be a key force in post-pandemic tourism recovery, a new government-funded certificate program – free until March 31 – is now available to help businesses realize the economic opportunity of the LGBT market and build LGBT safe spaces across the country.
Produced by Canada’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Tourism HR Canada, the program reflects a recent study by the CGLCC that shows that 90 percent of Canadian LGBT travellers intend to travel domestically amidst international uncertainty and represent a $12-billion leisure travel opportunity as the travel industry recovers from COVID-19.
“Safety is a key consideration for the LGBT community when travelling. In fact, 89 percent of LGBT travellers value safety as a key consideration when choosing a travel destination,” says LGBT Chamber of Commerce CEO Darrell Schuurman. “It’s important that businesses better understand how they can make the LGBT community feel safe and welcomed. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it also makes good business sense.”
The program is available for any customer-facing professional, management, and organizations/associations in the tourism industry.
The online courses take less than one day to complete, and all participants leave with a certificate. The prerequisite course (1-2 hours) is a self-paced online program that will provide a strong foundation for understanding LGBT identities, while the following workshop (4 hours) is a live facilitated event on Zoom to provide an understanding of different LGBT communities and action items to ensure that workplaces are an LGBT safe space.
A live bonus seminar for tourism executives (2 hours) provides exclusive LGBT travel market information, case studies from around the world, and exposes travel executives to a number of custom LGBT products to help inspire a successful LGBT tourism-welcoming strategy.
Course dates vary per region across the country and the cost is free until March 31. Custom workshops can also be arranged. For further details, visit the website HERE.