In an Australian first, the Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association (MRBTA) has partnered with Husbands That Travel (HTT) and Gay and Lesbian Tourism Australia (GALTA) to produce a 'Welcoming Travel' guide to assist and inspire LGBTQ+ travellers to the region.
The Margaret River Region is the first region in the country to co-develop a workshop series with GALTA and Husbands That Travel, which resulted in the production of the guide.
The MRBTA said Husbands That Travel approached the organisation after a year spent travelling across Australia revealed the country's lack of LGBTQ+ representation, and transparent information, across travel media.
"MRBTA was enthusiastic about increasing inclusive content across their consumer channels, but wanted to be sure that the end experience would deliver on a truly inclusive and welcoming experience for visitors.
"We know that for most of our local businesses it is within their generous nature to want to provide welcoming experiences for all," said MRBTA CEO, Sharna Kearney.
"The workshops provided really valuable insights into the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ travellers and how important it is to ensure an inclusive attitude is genuine and consistent across all customer touchpoints."
The workshops were delivered live online and will be available to all 750 MRBTA members and their staff for 12 months.
All participants are provided a 'Welcoming Travel Action Plan' with 14 practical actions businesses can implement across both marketing and their product experience.
In their recent study of over 500 LGBTQ+ travellers, the Husbands That Travel LGBTQ+ Traveller Survey found that Western Australia was perceived as less friendly than all east coast states, rating only slightly more welcoming than the Northern Territory.
A spokesperson for HTT said there was a lack of clarity for travellers, rather than widespread discrimination.
"It's not necessarily that a destination or accommodation is unfriendly, but that travellers don't know whether it is friendly or not, and when we don't know, the default can be to go back into the closet when we travel," the spokesperson said.
"In fact, 98 percent of LGBTQ+ travellers surveyed said that they have avoided drawing attention to their orientation or gender when at an accommodation on holiday, with 60 percent saying they do this often, or always.
"Our end goal of these workshops is for LGBTQ+ travellers to more easily find inclusive travel options where they feel safe and welcomed to be their full selves from the get-go when on holiday."
HTT's Charlie Douty praised the tourism organisation for its willingness to participate and engage their members.
"MRBTA are the first region we've worked with to immediately recognise the need for LGBTQ+ welcoming initiatives and jump in all hands on deck," Mr Douty said.
"They have been such a delight to work with and really trail-blazed the path for other Regional Tourism Organisations and State Tourism Organisations to follow in the LGBTQ+ inclusive travel space."
"The workshops really highlighted not only the 'why' but the 'how' to provide a welcoming travel experience," said Bina Maya Yallingup Escape owner-manager, Sara Graey.
"I feel very confident that our business can really take our experience to the next level with this information."
As well as the workshops and member information, the collaboration has seen criteria developed for the Welcoming Travel landing page at margaretriver.com.
The criteria will help LGBQT+ travellers choose experiences and accommodation that is safe and inclusive, while the MRBTA said it will also continue to invest in paid content partnerships with diversity and inclusion in the forefront.
"The paid content partnership with HTT which included a photoshoot, social media posts and a 7 day welcoming travel itinerary has been really successful.
"The itinerary is fast becoming one of the most popular on margaretriver.com and majority of that traffic coming from organic search - proving the demand among the LGBTQ+ travel market is there."