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Tampa Bay lands cover of state's LGBT travel guide

 
St. Pete Pride and other events helped put the bay area on the cover of the LGBT travel guide.
St. Pete Pride and other events helped put the bay area on the cover of the LGBT travel guide.
Published March 30, 2015

Two men, hand in hand, walk down a nighttime street, their path illuminated by a bright movie marquee. This glossy shot is the cover of Florida's new LGBT Getaway Guide, which will reach some 225,000 potential tourists across the United States.

But the romantic picture wasn't snapped in fun and sunny South Beach or Miami, cities that have long held sway as tolerant places for gay vacationers.

Instead, the men are walking in front of the Tampa Theatre; the marquee is advertising the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Talk about local pride.

The LGBT Getaway Guide — produced by Madden Media for Visit Florida, the state's main tourism arm, and various tourism agencies across the state — further cements Tampa Bay as arguably the Sunshine State's hottest new destination for LGBT vacationers stateside and abroad.

"This really does show the gay and lesbian community that Tampa Bay has something to offer in terms of Florida, that we're an inviting and tolerant place," says Kevin Wiatrowski, media relations specialist for Visit Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County's nonprofit tourist-marketing corporation.

Tampa Bay has certainly earned the distinction. The St. Pete Pride parade and festival, scheduled for June 26-28 this year, is now the largest of its kind in the Southeast. After more than a decade, Tampa Pride returned to action last weekend.

And both Visit Tampa Bay and its across-the-water counterpart Visit St. Pete-Clearwater have been vociferous in courting gay tourists here, especially after the state's same-sex marriage restrictions were lifted in January.

The LGBT Getaway Guide will be released April 7 and will circulate for a full year in such cities as Boston, New York, Chicago, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Contact Sean Daly at sdaly@tampabay.com. Follow @seandalypoplife.