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VGTA News

Northern Decadence Site Goes Live

The Vermont Gay Tourism Association invites you to celebrate with us on September 9th & 10th during the first annual Northern Decadence. Visit our new website at www.northerndecadence.com.

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VGTA in New York
April 27, 2011

Dear VGTA Members and Friends,

Vermont took over New York City last night. The Vermont Gay Tourism Association and Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing made quite an impression on several hundred travel professionals and consumers who attended the GLBT Travel Expo April 26th at the LGBT Community Center in Greenwich Village. It was a great night for networking and for generating creative ideas.

The Vermont booth created quite a stir by giving away a dozen valuable prizes every half hour, along with samples of cheese and literature from around the state. In addition, we hosted a hospitality suite for invited guests: travel writers, tour operators, travel agents and other travel pros. A video of Gov. Shumlin inviting LGBT visitors to Vermont was shown throughout the evening. Everyone was quite impressed with the food and the welcoming atmosphere.

Exquisite food was provided by the Inn at the Round Barn Farm, Cider House BBQ & Pub, Sugarbush Resort, Cabot Creamery, Shelburne Vineyard, Vermont Butter & Cheese, The Fortunate Cookie, and Shelburne Farm.

Special thanks to everyone who represented Vermont, including Commissioner Megan Smith, VT Dept of Tourism & Marketing; Bianca Slota, Press Secretary for Gov. Shumlin; Greg Trulson, Moose Meadow Lodge; Mike Kelley, Sugarbush Resort; Thomas Laue, Red Clover Inn; George DeFina & David Kanal, Deerbrook Inn; Portia Arthur, The Fortunate Cookie and Steven Puettner, Stratton Mountain Resort.

Many thanks also to the generous businesses that provided raffle prizes to entice people to sign up for the VGTA mailing list:

Hilton Burlington: luxurious terrycloth bathrobe
Red Clover Inn: Two $25 gift certificates
Deer Brook Inn: One night stay, including breakfast
Basin Harbor Club: One night stay, including breakfast for two
Burlington Harbor/Courtyard Marriott: One night stay, including breakfast for two
Notch Above Tours: Vermont Wildflower Seeds
The Fortunate Cookie: Large gourmet fortune cookies
Phineas Swann B&B: Coffee Mugs
Moose Meadow Lodge: One night stay, breakfast and massage.

We are fortunate to have had such enthusiastic support and participation from VGTA members. With so many Vermont businesses and people who contributed to the efforts, its safe to say that Vermont stood out among the other exhibitors. We really showed a united force.

To see photos from the Expo, please click here.

Sincerely,

Willie Docto
President & Co-Founder
Vermont Gay Tourism Association
wil@vermontgaytourism.com

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Review of Gay Travel in Vermont

Read "Get Hitched in Northern Vermont" http://www.outtraveler.com/features/story.asp?did=1484 Burlington and environs provides perfectly rustic New England countryside charm and quality organic cuisine -- but with open arms to the LGBT travelers and newlyweds. By Joseph Alexiou.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Willie Docto 802-244-6481 (office), 202-361-0249 (cell), or wil@vermontgaytourism.com

PRESIDENT OF VERMONT GAY TOURISM ASSOCIATION SPEAKS AT CONFERENCE

Willie Docto, President of the Vermont Gay Tourism Association, was a featured speaker at the 11th Annual International Conference on Gay & Lesbian Tourism in Las Vegas on October 25, 2010. Docto, who is co-owner of the Moose Meadow Lodge in Waterbury, Vermont made a presentation on what Vermont businesses do to market gay wedding services to the lucrative gay & lesbian travel market. Vermont is a popular wedding destination and was the first state in the U.S. to provide civil unions in 2000. Since the passage of Vermont's civil marriage law in 2009, there have been over 1188 same-sex civil marriage licenses issued. This accounts for almost one quarter of all marriage licenses issued between September 1, 2009 and August 31, 2010, according to the Vermont Department of Health. Sixty percent of same-sex couples were from out-of-state, representing a huge influx of tourism dollars into Vermont.

The annual Conference is produced by the San Francisco-based firm Community Marketing Inc, which conducts market research, provides strategic consulting services, produces conferences and training programs, publishes directories and provides other services to connect clients to the gay and lesbian community. More than 200 tourism professionals from around the world attended the conference at The Mirage in Las Vegas.

The Vermont Gay Tourism Association is a statewide membership organization of more than 30 businesses with the mission of promoting Vermont to the LGBT traveler. It hosts familiarization tours for travel writers, buys co-operative advertising, organizes events, exhibits at travel shows and maintains a popular website. More information is available at www.vermontgaytourism.com. Docto’s presentation is available online at http://www.vermontgaytourism.com/CMI2010.

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