Gay men and tourism: destinations and holiday motivations

Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 Gay men and tourism: destinations and holiday motivations Stephen Clift!,*, Simon Forrest" !Centre for Health Education and Research, Canterbury Christ Church University College, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1QU, UK "Department of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, University College London Medical School, London WC1E 6AU, UK Received 5 May 1998; accepted 24 August 1998 Abstract Little research attention has been given to the gay tourist market, the destinations most commonly visited by gay men, or their holiday motivations and experiences. This paper presents "ndings on the tourist destinations and holiday motivations of 562 gay men resident in southern England, who took part in a self-completion questionnaire survey to assess sexual activity and sexual risk behaviours in holiday settings. The study was aimed at informing HIV prevention intiatives for gay men with a tourism focus. Samples of men were recruited through contact in bars/clubs in Brighton and via a postal survey conducted in association with a local lesbian/gay magazine. The bar sample was younger than the postal sample but similar in terms of partnership status, income, holiday motivations and travel patterns. The two samples were thus combined for the purpose of analysis. The sample cannot be regarded as representative of gay men in general but does constitute a broad cross-section of gay men, mainly below the age of 40 on the commercial gay scene, supplemented by consumers of a local gay magazine. Gay men in the sample had travelled very widely in the previous "ve years, with southern European destinations and the United States, in particular, attracting substantial proportions of men. Three dimensions of gay tourist motivation were identi"ed: &gay social life and sex', &culture and sights' and &comfort and relaxation'. Men who had visited southern European gay resorts (Gran Canaria, Ibiza and Mykonos) had signi"cantly higher scores on the "rst dimension; whereas men who had visited European cities (Amsterdam, Paris and Prague) and had travelled further a"eld (sub-Saharan Africa and Australia) had higher scores on the second dimension. The implications of the "ndings for the development of tourism services for gay men, further research on gay tourism, and sexual health promotion aimed at gay men on holiday are discussed. ( 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Gay tourism; Gay destinations; Tourist motivations; Sexual behaviour; Sexual risk; HIV prevention 1. Introduction Travel and tourism represent a signi"cant dimension of contemporary Western gay culture, and gay tourism constitutes an expanding and lucrative niche market, especially in the USA (Thompson, 1997). In the UK, travel and tourism fairs speci"cally aimed at lesbian women and gay men have been held annually in London in recent years, and currently, the London Tourist Board is promoting London in the USA, as a destination for American gay men (Kennedy, 1998). Elsewhere, major gay events in cities around the world (e.g. the 1998 gay games in Amsterdam, the Sydney Mardi Gras), serve to attract a large volume of gay tourists from other countries (Clift & Wilkins, 1995). The growth of gay and *Corresponding author. Tel.: (44) (0) 1227 782707; fax: (44) (0) 1227 780328; e-mail: [email protected] lesbian tourism is not without controversy, however, as indicated by the recent reactions by residents and authorities in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas to the arrival of gay and lesbian cruise ships (McDermott, 1998). Similarly, a recent survey in the UK of hotels and guest-houses, found a substantial proportion of establishments unwilling to accommodate gay couples in double rooms (Tuck, 1998). Until very recently, little academic discussion or social research has focused on tourism among gay men. The "rst contributions to a growing literature include Clift and Wilkins' (1995) discussion of travel and sexual behaviour among gay men; Holcomb and Luongo's (1996) discussion of the geographic distribution of gay tourist destinations in the United States; the work of Hughes (1997a, b) on holidays and homosexual identity, and the organisation of gay tourist space in Amsterdam, and the work of Pritchard et al. (1998) on the tourism industry's relationship with the &gay market'. Still less research has been undertaken on lesbian women as tourists, but some 0261-5177/99/$ - see front matter ( 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 5 1 7 7 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 3 2 - 1 616 S. Clift, S. Forrest / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 recent attention has been given to this topic (see Aitchison & Reeves, 1998; Callister, 1998). Despite the developing interest in gay tourism, little is known regarding the historical and social factors which account for certain destinations becoming popular with gay men; the growth of specialist gay tourism services, or the patterns of social organisation and culture within gay tourist spaces. While the fascination with the Mediterranean among homosexually-inclined men in northern Europe throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has been well documented (Aldrich, 1993), no attempts have been made to chart the development of major gay tourist destinations. A telling illustration of the lack of attention given in the academic tourism literature to such issues, is provided by a recent discussion of tourism development on Mykonos by Stott (1996) in which no mention is made of the fact that this island is currently one of the four major European destinations popular with gay tourists (the others being Gran Canaria, Ibiza and Sitges). Equally, there is scant psychological knowledge regarding tourism motivations among gay men, and their experiences and behaviours on holiday. As Hughes (1977a) notes, gay holidays &&are likely to make a very signi"cant contribution to the creation and validation of identity for many gay men''. But, &&the nature and dimension of this contribution remain to be examined further.'' Particular areas meriting investigation concern the destinations gay men select for holidays, what gay men look for in choosing destinations, and the extent to which gay men are motivated in their choice of destination by sexual opportunities. 1.1. Tourism and sexual behaviour It is widely assumed that for many young, unattached tourists, holidays o!er a liminal environment away from the constraints of home, which reduce inhibitions and provide increased opportunities for sex. This assumption has been explored, and to some extent supported, in a number of recent British surveys of tourism and sexual activity among representative samples of young people (Ford & Eiser, 1996; Bloor et al., 1997; Thomas et al., 1997a,b; Anon, 1997). Concern about the risks involved in such activity has motivated holiday and travel safer sex campaigns in the UK (Stears, 1996) within Europe (Thomas et al., 1997a) and in other countries around the world (BroK ring, 1996). With respect to gay men, holidays and sex, it is very easy to form an impression that gay men on holiday in well known gay destinations, have ample opportunities for sex with new partners. Gay travel guides, such as Spartacus (GmuK nder, 1997), have a very explicit and predominant focus on venues and contexts o!ering opportunities for sex, and gay tour companies use sexually suggestive language in their advertisements (e.g. &Be a clever dick. Book the UK's number 1 gay holiday company' is the text used by the holiday company Sensations in a current advertisement). Holiday features in the gay press underline the sexualised nature of gay culture, and the sense that this may become even more exaggerated on holiday (e.g. the &holiday shag diary' which appeared in the free gay newspaper Boyz (13 June, 1998)). The picture is also reinforced by more serious journalistic accounts of gay resorts, with their party atmosphere and hedonistic patterns of drug use and sexual behaviour. Paul Burston (1997, p. 4) for example, writing in the Independent on Sunday magazine, provides the following account of the gay scene in South Beach, FL: South Beach, Florida, is a gay resort to end all gay resorts. Like London or Los Angeles, it has a highly developed commercial gay scene, built around gay men's apparently insatiable appetite for sexual adventure. Like New York or Palm Springs, it plays regular host to what are known as &&gay circuit parties'' } a rapidly expanding network of largescale themed events such as the Winter Party, held to raise money for AIDS charities, and often accused of encouraging unsafe sex through the use of disinhibiting, sexually stimulating drugs and the prevailing air of hedonistic abandon. Despite the prominent connections between tourism and sex in gay media and culture, surprisingly little research attention has been given to the sexual behaviour of gay men in the context of tourism. This is the case even though the role of international travel in the development of the HIV/AIDS epidemic among gay men in the United States and in Europe is clearly established (Conway et al., 1990; Rotello, 1997). In their recent review, Clift and Forrest (1998), could identify only "ve studies involving "eldwork in tourist destinations and six studies based in hospital clinics, which report data for homosexual men on travel and sexual health risks. Existing studies of the sexual behaviour of gay men abroad suggest that the pursuit of sexual encounters is an important motivation for some gay men on holiday. Given the nature of the contexts and samples studied, however, it would be inappropriate to draw conclusions regarding the motivations and experiences of gay men in general. The work of Ford et al. (1993), for example, addresses payment for sex with male prostitutes by male tourists in Bali. Similarly, the work of Wilke and Kleiber (1993) on German gay men in Thailand and other destinations, focuses on sex with male prostitutes. Similarly, while clinic-based studies (Hawkes et al., 1995; Carter et al., 1997) provide various estimates of the percentages of gay men who have been sexually active abroad, and serve to identify factors associated with sexual activity, such "ndings cannot be safely generalised beyond the population of clinic-attending gay men. In addition, clinic studies generally provide little or no S. Clift, S. Forrest / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 information on the destinations gay men had visited, their motivations for travel, or their experiences other than sexual activity. Thus, among the basic questions still to be adequately researched in respect of gay men in general and tourism are: where do gay men go for their holidays; what do gay men regard as important when they plan a holiday; to what extent are gay men sexually active on holiday with new partners; what variables di!erentiate those men who are sexually active from those who are not; and to what extent do gay men engage in sexual activities which carry risks of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV? During August/September 1996, a survey was undertaken to address these questions. The principal purpose of the survey being to assess the extent of sexual risktaking among gay men in holiday contexts, and to consider the implications of such behaviour for the development and targeting of HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives for gay tourists (Clift & Forrest, 1998; Forrest & Clift, 1998). The "ndings from this survey and subsequent research undertaken by Clift et al. (1998) have contributed to the development of a UK holiday safer sex campaign targeting gay men undertaken within the framework of the Community HIV and AIDS Prevention Strategy (CHAPS). While the survey was primarily health-oriented in focus, data were gathered on the destinations gay men had visited for holidays and issues men considered important in planning holidays, and "ndings from this aspect of the research will be of interest to tourism researchers and professionals in tourism management. 1.2. Tourist motivations and experiences A fairly substantial theoretical and empirical literature now exists regarding tourist motivations (for reviews see: Sharpley, 1994; Pearce, 1995; Shaw & Williams, 1994). Gray (1970) for example, identi"ed two basic motivations for pleasure travel: &wanderlust' involving the desire or &push' to &get away from it all' and enter a novel environment, and &sunlust' involving the &pull' of environments which o!er something which home lacks (e.g. a predictably warm, sunny climate). In a similar vein, Iso-Ahola (1982) proposed a model in which two dimensions of escape from the home environment and seeking something new in the tourist environment, are taken into account. Escape may be from &personal' or &interpersonal' circumstances, and what is sought may be &personal' or &interpersonal'. This scheme gives rise to a model involving four cells which can be used to locate individual tourists. A tourist's position is not static within this typology, however, and they may shift position from one trip to another and even within a single trip. As Pearce (1995) notes, &&theoretical work on tourist motivation has been complemented by a wide range of empirical studies, usually survey based''. Such studies 617 vary in their target groups and focus and a variety of motives have emerged as being of particular important in di!erent studies. Pearce argues that it is di$cult to draw general conclusions from the disparate research literature on tourist motivations, and suggests that varying results may not be con#icting but may either re#ect di!erent research designs, or may indicate that di!erent cultures or di!erent types of tourists have varying patterns of travel motivations. An alternative approach to the study of tourist motivations involves asking about tourists' holiday experiences. It is reasonable to assume that tourists will generally plan holidays which provide them with the experiences they are seeking, and so patterns of holiday activity may o!er a good marker of principal motivations underlying holiday planning and destination choice. Clark and Clift (1996) report a study of holiday experiences among British tourists to the Mediterranean island of Malta, undertaken to explore the health risks and bene"ts associated with holidays. Just over 400 tourists were asked to complete a 28 statement questionnaire about their holiday experiences and principal components analysis provided evidence of three dimensions of holiday experience. The "rst, &sun, sex and sangria', re#ected stereotypical notions of a beach/night-club holiday involving sunseeking, alcohol consumption and &romance'. The second, &relaxation and enjoyment vs. stress' re#ected the fact that for most tourists their holiday was enjoyable and helped them relax and unwind, whereas for a minority their holiday had been disappointing and stressful. The third, &personal development and activity', re#ected the fact that for some their holiday involved travelling around, sight-seeing and a broadening of experience, while for others it did not. Assessment of tourist motivation and experiences is not an end in itself, however, as important questions can be asked regarding the relationships between motivation, holiday behaviour and destination choices. Gray (1970) suggested, for example, that wanderlust and sunlust orientations give rise to di!erent forms of travel. The former, in particular, being more likely to give rise to international travel than the latter, although this will depend on the character and climate of the country of origin. 1.3. Gay men, holiday motivations and destinations Given the lack of previous empirical work on gay tourist motivations and holiday destinations, the current study serves to chart new territory and is clearly exploratory and provisional in nature. However, a number of general expectations were formulated regarding tourism patterns among gay men and the principal factors motivating destination choice. These were based on information in the gay press and gay tour guides, the general literature on tourist motivation, and the earlier work of Clark and Clift (1996): 618 S. Clift, S. Forrest / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 z well-known gay destinations, particularly those which are geographically close to the UK, will attract substantial proportions of gay men; z opportunities for socialising and being sexually active with other men will be an important dimension of holiday motivation for gay men, in addition to other motivations common among tourists in general (e.g. relaxation, sight-seeing); z men visiting gay resort destinations will be more strongly motivated by opportunities for sexual activity, than will gay men who do not choose such destinations. samples of gay men is widely acknowledged (Davies et al., 1993) and the "ndings from all existing studies of gay men are necessarily quali"ed by such problems with sampling. The strength of the present study is that it presents "ndings on tourism patterns from a relatively large community-based sample of gay men. The sample clearly represents a broader cross-section of gay men than is the case in previous related studies which have drawn samples from sexual health clinics or from men visiting speci"c sex tourism destinations to use the services of local male prostitutes. 3. Results 2. Methodology 3.1. Sample characteristics 2.1. Questionnaire design The questionnaire was entitled &Gay Men, Holidays and Sex' and included: a list of sixteen destinations to assess tourist patterns; sixteen items to determine what men generally look for in deciding on a holiday (see Table 2); a set of statements to explore attitudes towards sex on holiday, and a section asking for details of sexual activity on one or two holidays taken during the year up to the time of the survey. Questions were also asked concerning demographic and biographical characteristics and aspects of sexual history (see Clift & Forrest (1998) for details. A copy of the questionnaire can be obtained from the principal author). 2.2. Samples and data collection Two methods of obtaining samples of gay men were employed. Firstly, a bar/club survey was conducted in central Brighton during August 1996, which comprised a total of 25 sessions of "eldwork in the main gay venues at di!erent times of the day/evening. A total of 346 questionnaires were distributed and 345 were returned completed (i.e. a 99.7% response rate). Secondly, in order to gather data from a wider cross-section of gay men who may not necessarily patronise gay bars/clubs, a copy of the questionnaire with a free-post envelope, was placed in 5 000 issues of a local lesbian and gay magazine, Gscene, in early September. These were divided between Brighton bars and newsagents, and newsagents in Hastings, Eastbourne, Portsmouth and Southampton. In total, 250 completed questionnaires were returned (i.e. a 5% response rate). Full details of the "eld-work procedures are given in Clift and Forrest (1998). It is recognised that there are limitations to the sampling procedures adopted and that the results obtained from this survey cannot necessarily be generalised to a broader population of gay men (even in the locality in which the survey was conducted). The di$culty, and perhaps impossibility, of obtaining strictly representative A total of 590 men completed all sections of the questionnaire, of whom 69% were residents in the Brighton area. Prior to analysis, men visiting the UK from overseas and men not identifying as either gay or bisexual, were excluded, leaving a sample size of 562. Men in the bar sample were signi"cantly younger (s2"44.66, df"2, p(0.00001) but no di!erences emerged for partnership status, or income. No signi"cant di!erences were apparent between the two samples on the destinations men had visited during the previous "ve years, and only one marked di!erence emerged for the motivation items, with men in the bar/club sample signi"cantly more likely to rate &good night-life' as &very important' compared with the postal sample (s2"25.41, df"2, p(0.00001). This result is not surprising given the location of recruitment and the younger age of the bar sample. It was considered reasonable therefore, to combine the bar and postal samples for the purpose of further analysis of the motivation data and the relationships between destinations and motivations. Table 1 reports information on the age, income, and partnership status of men in the sample. Table 1 Characteristics of gay men in the combined sample Age group (n"555) 17}29 30}39 40# % 38.6 37.3 24.1 Income (n"530) Under C10K C10K}C20K Over C20K 32.8 39.6 27.5 Partnership (n"556) Yes No 48.6 51.4 S. Clift, S. Forrest / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 Within the combined sample, older men tended to earn more than younger men, but neither age nor income were associated with relationship status. 3.2. Tourism destinations in the last xve years The questionnaire included a list of sixteen destinations world-wide, but with an emphasis on well-known gay tourist resorts and cities in Europe. Men were asked to indicate whether they had visited each destination in the last "ve years. Fig. 1 presents a visual representation of data obtained on international tourism. In addition to the destinations indicated, over three quarters of men reported holidaying in London. The total number of places visited was taken to be a crude measure of the extent of men's travel/holiday experiences over "ve years. This ranged from zero (31 men, 5.5% of the sample) to 16 (1 man, 0.2%), but for the purpose of analysis the sample was divided into "ve fairly evenly sized groups: 0}1 place (122 men, 21.7%, 2 places (99 men, 17.6%), 3 places (104 men, 18.5%), 4}5 places (123 men, 21.9%) and 6 or more places (114 men, 20.3%). 619 Higher income was signi"cantly related to greater travel/holiday experience. Among men with incomes up to C10K, for example, 7.5% had travelled to 6 or more destinations listed, while among men with incomes over C30K, this "gure rose to 52.5% (s2"78.9, df"12, p(0.00001). Income was also examined in relation to each of the destinations individually and men with higher incomes were signi"cantly more likely to have travelled to thirteen out of the sixteen places listed. Older men were also more likely to report wider travel experience, although the di!erences among the three age groups were not especially marked (s2"16.1, df"8, p(0.05). Older men were signi"cantly more likely to report having visited three destinations: Amsterdam, Sitges and the USA. The age e!ects observed may well re#ect age di!erences in income, however, rather than being a direct function of age. Finally, relationship status had no bearing on breadth of travel experience and showed no signi"cant relationships with travel to any speci"c destination listed. Fig. 1. Destinations visited by gay men over "ve years prior to the survey. 620 S. Clift, S. Forrest / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 Table 2 What do gay men look for in a holiday? (n"537}554) Very important (%) Fairly important (%) Not important (%) How important are each of the following to you when you plan a holiday? Comfort and good food Opportunities for rest and relaxation Guaranteed sunshine Good night-life Opportunities to socialise with gay men Gay culture and venues Dramatic or beautiful landscapes Opportunities to see local culture Opportunities to have sex Getting away from other people Getting o! the beaten track Convenient and cheap holiday package Seeing well known tourist sights Visiting art galleries and antiquities Opportunities to see wildlife and nature Good sporting facilities/exercise 70.9 70.2 51.4 47.9 36.6 39.1 38.4 37.5 29.3 27.6 27.5 24.9 21.1 17.7 13.3 10.1 3.3. Holiday motivations: what gay men look for in a holiday Some indications of what gay men look for in a holiday were provided by responses to a list of sixteen possible aspects of a holiday. Table 2 reports the results obtained for the whole sample ordered in terms of the percentage of men rating each item as &very important'. Rest and comfort emerged as the most often endorsed characteristics, and nature and sports facilities the least. In order to explore the patterns running through reported holiday motivations, a correlation matrix for the motivational data was produced. Both the Kaiser}Meyer}Olkin measure of sampling adequacy at 0.79, and the Bartlett test of sphericity at 1802.6 (p(0.00001), indicated that data reduction by principal components analysis was legitimate. Five components with eigen values greater than unity were identi"ed whereas a visual inspection of a plot of eigen values suggested that only three or possibly four components should be retained for rotation. As three components provided a much clearer &simple structure' on rotation, the outcome of this analysis is given in Table 3 (the sample size is reduced to just under 500 due to list-wise deletion of cases with missing values on any variable). Item loadings (0.4 are excluded for the sake of clarity. One item, &Good sporting facilities/exercise' failed to load at or above 0.4, but was associated with component three. As a further check on the reasonableness of combining the bar and postal samples, the principal components analysis was conducted on each sample separately, and identical components emerged, with very similar item loadings on each component. 25.1 22.5 31.8 39.6 40.2 41.1 45.0 46.3 35.3 36.6 39.1 36.7 50.2 33.5 39.1 23.5 4.0 7.3 16.8 12.5 23.2 19.7 16.6 16.2 35.4 35.8 33.4 38.4 28.7 48.8 47.6 66.5 Table 3 Three components of gay men's holiday motivations (n"498) Items Components 1 Gay social life and sex Gay culture and venues Opportunities to socialise with gay men Good night-life Opportunities for sex Culture and sights Visiting art galleries and antiquities Opportunities to see local culture Dramatic or beautiful landscapes Seeing well known tourist sights Opportunities to see wildlife and nature Getting o! the beaten track Comfort and relaxation Guaranteed sunshine Comfort and good food Getting away from other people Opportunities for rest and relaxation Convenient and cheap holiday package Good sporting facilities/exercise 2 3 0.83 0.81 0.77 0.68 0.73 0.72 0.68 0.62 0.59 0.53 0.65 0.54 0.49 0.45 0.45 } The components are readily interpretable and can be labelled respectively as: &gay social life and sex'; &culture and sights', and &comfort and relaxation'. Three summary indices were constructed to represent these aspects of holiday motivation based on the "rst four items loading on each component. The three scales produced ranged in value from 0 to 8, with high values indicating a greater emphasis on the motivational component concerned. S. Clift, S. Forrest / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 Assessments of internal reliability using Cronbach's alpha indicated acceptable levels of reliability for the "rst and second components (0.81 and 0.70, respectively), whereas the alpha value for the third component was rather low (0.44). In view of the low reliability of the third component, further analysis was restricted only to the "rst two scales. 3.4. Biographical factors associated with holiday motivations The relevance of age, income and relationship status in relation to the "rst two holiday motivation scales was explored using analysis of variance. For the &gay social life and sex' scale, main order e!ects were observed for relationship status (F"16.52, p(0.001) and for age (F"3.99, p(0.05) with unattached and younger men having higher scores. For the &culture and sights' scale, one main order e!ect was observed for relationship status (F"4.87, p(0.05), with men in relationships more interested in this aspect of holidays. A signi"cant two-way interaction also emerged on this scale, for relationship status and age (F"12.58, p"0.05). This re#ected the fact that within the two older age groups, men in relationships were more interested in &culture and sights' than unattached men, while no such di!erence emerged for men in the youngest age group (up to 29). Income had no relationship with either aspect of holiday motivation. 621 Table 4 Destinations visited by gay men and their holiday motivations Gay social life and sex Culture and sights Amsterdam No Yes Gran Canaria No Yes Mykonos No Yes Ibiza No Yes Prague No Yes Paris No Yes North Africa No Yes Sub-Saharan No Africa Yes Australia No Yes n Mean 285 256 368 173 498 43 415 126 502 39 299 242 460 81 504 37 474 67 4.5 4.7 4.4 5.1 4.5 5.5 4.5 5.1 4.6 4.4 4.6 4.6 4.8 3.8 4.6 4.2 4.7 4.3 t !0.84 !2.96# !2.63" !2.4! 0.62 0.18 3.39$ 1.12 1.10 n Mean 284 249 360 173 490 43 411 122 493 40 294 239 451 82 496 37 467 66 3.9 4.2 4.3 3.4 4.0 4.2 4.1 3.7 4.0 4.7 3.7 4.4 4.0 4.3 4.0 4.8 3.9 4.7 t !1.93! 4.82$ !0.52 1.71 !2.06! !3.66$ !1.26 !2.22! !2.75# !p)0.05. "p)0.01. #p)0.005. $p)0.0001 (2-tail signi"cance). 4. Discussion 3.5. Destinations and motivation 4.1. Holiday destinations of gay men In order to explore the relationships between destinations visited and expressed tourism motivations, men who had visited and not visited each of the destinations listed were compared on their scores for the "rst two motivation components using independent t-tests. Statistically signi"cant di!erences (2-tailed) on one or both of these components were found for nine destinations (see Table 4). The results in Table 4 clearly indicate that men who had visited Gran Canaria, Mykonos and Ibiza had significantly higher scores on the &gay social life and sex' scale compared with those who had not visited these resorts. Conversely, men who had visited North Africa had signi"cantly lower scores on this scale. Men who had visited Amsterdam, Prague, Paris, sub-Saharan Africa and Australia had signi"cantly higher scores on the &culture and sights' scale compared to those who had not visited these destinations. In addition, men who had visited Gran Canaria had signi"cantly lower &culture and sights' scores than those who had not. Men who had visited or not visited, Berlin, London, Sitges, Central/South America, the United States, India, and south-east Asia, did not di!er signi"cantly on either of the "rst two motivation scales. The present study is unique in providing detailed information on the extent of international tourism among a sample of British gay men. Information on whether men had visited selected destinations over the previous "ve years provided a clear indication of the major destinations attracting gay men. After London, which nearly three quarters of men had visited for a holiday, almost half of the sample had visited Amsterdam, a city widely regarded as the &gay capital of Europe' (Hughes, 1997b), and over 40% had visited Paris, also regarded as an important gay city (Clift & Wilkins, 1995; GmuK nder, 1997). Following these destinations, the most often visited place was the United States, with just over 40% making a trip across the Atlantic in the last "ve years. Next, in terms of popularity, were Gran Canaria (31.5%) and Ibiza (23%) both of which are well known gay resorts. None of the remaining destinations speci"ed attracted more than 15% of the sample, and overall the picture suggests that British gay men travel predominantly to destinations within Europe and to the United States for holidays. Nevertheless, minorities of men had travelled further a"eld holidaying in North Africa, Australia, south east Asia, and Central and South America. In this respect, gay men probably show no 622 S. Clift, S. Forrest / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 essential di!erences in their general patterns of travel when compared to UK heterosexual tourists, and to global patterns of tourism overall (WTO, 1996). The results from the survey con"rm that many gay men had taken holidays in well-known gay tourist destinations over the previous "ve years, and thus were likely to have come into social, and possibly sexual, contact with local gay men and other gay tourists visiting the destination from a wide variety of countries of origin. It is also the case, however, that substantial numbers of gay men take holidays in destinations which could not be characterised as speci"cally gay. This is likely to re#ect not only their values and motivations connected with travel and holidays, but also whether being on holiday is likely to bring them into contact with local gay men and other gay tourists. Clearly, these "ndings on holiday destinations are quite crude, as they represent patterns of travel to a limited number of speci"ed destinations over a "ve year period, and no information was available on the number of times men had visited these destinations. 4.2. Gay men+s holiday motivations It is clear that large proportions of gay men holiday in destinations with an established reputation for being gay, and substantial numbers of men also holiday in a wide range of destinations which would not be characterised as gay. It should also be remembered that many men may undertake two, three or more holidays a year, and the factors in#uencing choice of destination may vary substantially from one holiday to the next for the same man. Nevertheless, in designing the questionnaire it was considered valuable to include a set of questions to assess, in a general way, the priorities gay men tend to give to a wide range of factors in planning a holiday. Given that the main purpose of the survey was to assess the extent to which gay men are sexually active on holiday with new partners and may be engaged in risky sexual encounters, items were included to determine the extent to which opportunities for socialising with gay men, and for seeking new sexual partners were important factors a!ecting men's choice of holiday destination. The "ndings obtained were of interest in a number of respects. It is clear that a large majority of gay men, no less than heterosexual tourists, place a high value on comfort, good food, relaxation and guaranteed sunshine when planning a holiday. A much smaller proportion appear to be seeking an active holiday which takes them o! the beaten track, or which gives them the opportunity to see wildlife and nature, or participate in sports and exercise. The social dimensions of a holiday, and in particular the gay character of a holiday are important for approximately a third of the sample. It is particularly interesting that the item &opportunities to have sex' generated a fairly even response across the available answers, with only 29.3% considering this very important, 35.3% fairly important and 35.4% not important. The more obviously &touristic' motivations of experiencing di!erent cultures, seeing well-known tourist sights, visiting galleries, etc., gave a wider range of responses with nearly 40% interested in local culture, but less than 20% being drawn to art galleries and antiquities. In order to explore the pattern of gay men's holiday motivations further, responses to these items were subject to principal components analysis, and a three component solution was considered to give the clearest and most readily interpretable account of the data. These broad dimensions correspond fairly closely to the patterning of holiday experiences identi"ed by Clark and Clift (1996) in their study of British tourists visiting Malta. This suggests that the principal issues which structure holiday decision-making and experiences are largely common to gay and straight tourists, although the relative importance of each dimension may vary from group to group and by destination. Three scales were constructed on the basis of this analysis, but only the "rst two demonstrated a satisfactory level of internal reliability. In further research more detailed and sophisticated questionnaires could be informed by the present "ndings. It would be important, for instance, to di!erentiate factors which relate to the decision-making process (e.g. planning ahead vs. decisions made at the last minute), the character of the holiday (e.g. package vs. independent travel), the nature of destinations preferred, activities to be pursued on holiday, what respondents wish to &get away from' in the home environment, and so on. These issues should also be explored with respect to recent holidays undertaken or holidays planned in the near future. A more sophisticated methodology would serve to test the validity of the dimensional structure identi"ed here and could result in longer, more reliable scales. More qualitatively oriented studies in which gay men give accounts of their holiday planning and experiences would also be of considerable interest. 4.3. Destinations and holiday motivations It is fairly self-evident that men who visit resort destinations with an established gay reputation, will be motivated by opportunities to socialise with gay men and perhaps to be sexually active with new partners. The "nding, therefore, that men who had visited Gran Canaria, Ibiza and Mykonos have higher scores on the &gay social life and sex' scale is not surprising. Equally, it is to be expected that men visiting destinations which are not gay in the same sense will tend to be motivated by destination speci"c factors, such as seeing local sights and experiencing the local culture. It is note-worthy, however, that these patterns emerge so clearly, given that men were asked whether they had visited certain destinations over the previous ,ve years, and what they currently tend to look for in planning a holiday. This attests to S. Clift, S. Forrest / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 a degree of stability over time in gay men's tourism motivations, and their decisions regarding holiday destinations. It is, however, a little surprising that &gay social life and sex' did not emerge as an important factor di!erentiating men who had visited or not visited Sitges and Amsterdam, given their reputations and the opportunities they undoubtedly provides for gay sex. Further analysis of the data gathered is required to consider these patterns in relation to demographic and biographical factors. It was apparent, for example, that men with higher incomes tended to be more widely travelled, but this factor had no bearing on tourism motivation. Equally, younger men and those not currently in a committed relationship tended to score more highly on the &gay social life and sex' scale, but age and relationship status had little bearing on destinations visited. Clearly, more re"ned analyses of the relationships between motivation and destination taking account of age, income and relationship status are required to explore the interactions involved here. In addition, further analysis is required to examine gay men's reported patterns of sexual behaviour and risk, in relation to tourism motivation and holiday destination (see Clift & Forrest, 1998). 4.4. Implications for tourism management and further research The survey highlights that approximately a third of gay men see holidays as a context for "nding new sexual partners. This was particularly true of men who were not in committed relationships, but a substantial minority of men in relationships also endorsed the sex items. Unattached gay men may be little di!erent from unattached heterosexual men in their interest in having sex on holiday, but the extent of sexual activity with new partners in holiday settings appears to be much higher among gay men than it is among unattached heterosexual men (Clift & Forrest, 1998). Gay tour companies and other tourist oriented businesses are helping to create settings in which sexually motivated men are accommodated together for periods of leisure, with ample time, opportunity and privacy for sexual encounters. As the results from this survey show, this is especially true for prominent resorts such as Ibiza, Gran Caneria and Mykonos. They have a responsibility, therefore, to remind men of the potential health risks posed by sexual activity on holiday, and provide both appropriate advice and materials to promote safer sex (e.g. company representatives having a role in HIV prevention, distribution of lea#ets, and provision of condoms and lubricant } either free or for purchase). In response to these issues, the Terrence Higgins Trust, London, have recently produced a lea#et aimed at gay men holidaying in southern European gay destinations (Clift et al., 1998; THT, 1998) which will be distributed through British gay tour companies during 1998. 623 While the sexual behaviour and health of gay tourists is a serious matter, the present survey also demonstrates very clearly that a majority of men in the sample were not strongly motivated by opportunities for sexual activity on holiday. Gay tour operators may be encouraged by these "ndings to consider o!ering a more diverse range of tourism products to gay men who are less interest in the gay scene and sexual adventures, but who would appreciate booking travel and holidays through a gay-friendly organisation. This is an issue which would merit further research. Specialist gay tour operators cater for a relatively small section of the gay market (Clift et al., 1998) and main-stream tour operators probably capture a larger, but currently unknown proportion of this market through bookings to destinations with a gay reputation, even though this is not explicitly acknowledged in their brochures (a notable exception is an entry for one of the hotels featured in Thompson's 1997 &Small and Friendly' brochure which acknowledges its popularity with gay men). Mainstream tour companies may bene"t from having some knowledge of the sexual orientation of clients travelling to di!erent destinations, as this may have a bearing on policies regarding shared accommodation, problems of harassment experienced by gay clients, and possible objections by heterosexual tourists, especially those with children. The experiences of gay men holidaying with mainstream tour operators and the extent to which they would welcome greater acknowledgement by such operators would merit further research. One possible limitation of the present survey is that its "ndings may re#ect the fact that many of the men participating lived in or near Brighton, which has a large gay community and a busy gay scene. It is by no means certain that a similar survey conducted in another city of the United Kingdom which does not have a large visual gay community would produce the same travel patterns and "ndings on holiday motivations. It is possible that gay men who live in rural areas or small towns which do not have a visible gay community may be more attracted to holidaying in gay destinations. There was some evidence from interviews conducted as part of the current research project, in fact, that some gay men saw holidays as providing an opportunity to escape from their local gay environment (Clift & Forrest, 1998). Equally, in the absence of similar surveys conducted among gay men in other countries, it is not certain what patterns of tourist motivation and movement would emerge. It would be of considerable interest to ascertain national di!erences in such patterns. Mapping of tourist #ows from di!erent countries, as in Fig. 1, and overlaying them, would indicate the distribution of di!erent nationalities visiting popular holiday destinations. In addition, surveys conducted in key gay destinations, such as Gran Canaria and Sitges, would serve to ascertain the mixture 624 S. Clift, S. Forrest / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 615}625 of di!erent nationalities of gay men, in holiday resorts at given points in the season. Only one small scale, unpublished study of this kind has been undertaken to date (Casson & Dockrell, 1995). Data on gay tourist #ows from di!erent countries of origin to particular holiday destinations, together with information on patterns of sexual mixing and risk behaviours, are essential if the contribution of international tourism to the future development of the HIV epidemic among gay men, is to be adequately assessed. Acknowledgements Many individuals contributed to the research reported here, but thanks are due in particular to Adam Tidball for his assistace in conducting the survey, and Miranda Jones for her help with data management. The paper has bene"ted from the constructive comments made by reviewers of the original manuscript. 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