The start of establishing GaYBOR, a gay district in Tampa’s historic Ybor City, just 3 years ago has now gone to the next promotional tourism level. Promoters and international travel company AlandChuck.travel brought together over 2 dozen media groups to help promote the new AlandChuck.travel brand and also the Gaybor District in the historic Ybor City area of Tampa. On the luxurious Italian cruise line, MSC Poesia, the offering and networking was plain awesome. Leaving Ft. Lauderdale’s port we headed to CoCo Cay then Nassau.
The start of establishing GaYBOR, a gay district in Tampa’s historic Ybor City, just 3 years ago has now gone to the next promotional tourism level. Promoters and international travel company AlandChuck.travel brought together over 2 dozen media groups to help promote the new AlandChuck.travel brand and also the Gaybor District in the historic Ybor City area of Tampa. On the luxurious Italian cruise line, MSC Poesia, the offering and networking was plain awesome. Leaving Ft. Lauderdale’s port we headed to CoCo Cay then Nassau. The group and individual meetings exemplified the need for gay tourist dollars. GLBT dollars spent annually in Unites States tourism alone is over $ 140 billion. To tap into the market Aland Chuck.travel is promoting Tampa Bay and Florida as leading gay destinations. They also have teamed up with national TV network LOGO TV. Local statewide media groups included: Hotspots, Latino Boys, Wired, What’s Happening, Watermark, Dishing with Mark & Carrie, MyQummunity, Gay Safehaven, Out and About, and OMG Magazine. Destination parties included the GaYBOR Days events, Gasparilla Invasion “El Gancho,” St. Pete Pride, Orlando Pride events, Gay Days Disney and other main GLBT events. International gay tours were also promoted, including 4 major tours set for 2011 going to Amsterdam, Paris, and Italy and a Baltic Sea cruise. A couple of GLBT stateside cruises are also in the itinerary.
The annual decorating contest will be judged November 28th through November 30th.The categories include: Residents, Bars/Clubs, Restaurants and Retail. To enter please send an an e-mail to GaYBORInfo@aol.com stating you want to be in the contest. The winners will announced at the Annual RITZ Ybor & GaYBOR District Coalition Holiday Party “Miracle on 7th Avenue” on December 2nd. Everybody is invited.
The start of a national book tour of “Two Days Past Dead” by Todd Kachinski started at MC Film Fest in Ybor. This is a tell all book about the behind the scenes of the dark (let’s just say overcast sky) gay world in Tampa Bay. The author has mixed fiction with nonfiction and leaves it up to you to decide which is which. Unfortunately after this signing Todd became ill and the rest of the tour is now on a temporary hold.
It seems like just yesterday when G.Bar opened in Ybor City. At that time there were two other LGBT clubs open, Flirt Night Club and Wranglers. Just 6 months later MC Film opened in Ybor. Then in the next couple of months GaYBOR was born! It is amazing how fast our LGBT district has grown. What will GaYBOR look like when G.Bar celebrates their 10 year anniversary?
What a fun time at the DIVE Turn-a-bout! After several cocktails the staff put on a first class show. The highlight for us was seeing Chou Chou in a dress! Yes we do have a picture of it!
