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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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