Austin’s rank as a tourist destination has been making the national lists for quite some time, but if all goes well today, it could also become an LGBTQ tourist destination. A resolution to consider allocating more money to promote queer tourism and events comes before the City Council agenda.
“The intent,” said Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce President Jimmy Flannigan by phone, “is to grow LGBT tourism to get the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) to work with the AGLCC on ways to generate LGBT tourism and create more economic opportunities.”
Flannigan appeared on KEYE-TV last night to discuss the resolution, the result of discussions between the AGLCC and the City Council. The timing couldn’t be better: The AGLCC’s economic development contracts come up for renewal in February. The gay chamber currently receives $23,750 from the City of Austin, a small slice of the minority chambers of commerce pie (according to the KEYE piece, “Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: $212,705 Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce: $171,000 Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce: $142,500”) and an amount expected to increase. Membership has grown significantly in the three years since AGLCC’s last contract, and they hope to better leverage that growth to generate additional dollars for LGBTQ Austin.
We placed the Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce on our Top 10 Things to Look Forward to in 2014, and we’re glad we did. Should the resolution pass, the move represents a huge leap forward for both the AGLCC, the LGBTQ community, and Austin.
This article appears in January 17 • 2014.