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Media Coverage for Gay tours to India by Pink Vibgyor
Happy times for gay travellers
by, Hindustan Times , Sept. 15, 2011
Gay travellers never had it so good. As more and more people in the country are recognising gay rights, travel and tour operators, too, have lapped up the opportunity to woo the gay community. Believe it or not, in the last few months itself, a number of travel agencies have set shop in the city, catering entirely to gay travellers
Peter Hosie of Pink Vibgyor, another gay travel agency says, “Gay travellers want to explore India, but they don’t want to get embarrassed. So, we ensure sure that our guides are gay friendly.”
India, an emerging gay tourism hub?
by, www.go-greece.net , Oct.9,2011
Jaipur, Delhi, Agra, Kochi, Tamil Nadu and Goa are hot destinations for gay travellers. Pink Vibgyor, another agency, which has clients from Europe, US, Middle East, China and Thailand, gets a number of requests for “adventure or spiritual holidays” from gay travellers. “They want to do fun activities together over a week or a month. This can be a pan-India holiday starting from the hills in the north to the beaches down south. They love interacting with the local gay scene and we arrange gay parties for them,” .
India a hot spot for pink travellers.
by, India Today , Nov, 25, 2012
Thanks to Indian gay-tour operators, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community across the world is vying for India as the ultimate 'pink' tourist destination.
"LGBT tourists want the same things as any traveller: to feel safe and welcome. India is becoming more popular with gay travellers since the high court decriminalized homosexuality in 2009. Feeling welcome is not only a reference to local hospitality, but also to larger issues of governmental rights," said John Tanzella, president and CEO of International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), which has a presence in 83 countries.
"We keep an eye on clients' movement, as we have our offices all across the country, we make sure all the necessary information about what to wear and where to go is provided to the clients/groups from our local representatives," Peter of Pink Vibgyor, a gay-friendly destination management company, told IANS
The lure of Pink Hospitality & Tourism.
by, India hospitality review , March, 16, 2013
Gay tourism may be a big draw abroad, but players on the international circuit are not only sensing India’s potential, they have plans to draw the community here too.
Comparing India to a “sleeping giant”, Bomkes feels the country is an emerging destination for gay travellers around the world. However, despite the potential, India seems to be lagging behind in tapping the lucrative market, which saw a turnover of $2 trillion in 2012.
In his endeavour to promote India as one of the favourite gay destinations of the world, Bomkes took two gay-friendly Indian tour operators—Pink India and Pink Vibgyor—to ITB Berlin last year. It was the first time that two gay-friendly Indian tour operators took part in ITB Berlin and they were a huge success. “Most gay Germans and Europeans had no idea about ‘gay India’. They had never travelled to India…” says Bomkes.
The new pink corner.
by, The Indian Express , May, 05, 2013
Pink: The colour of money?
by, www.mid-day.com, Dec.23,2012
The aptly named Pink VIBGYOR is a travel company launched specifically for the LGBT community interested in travelling to India, Nepal or Bhutan. An offshoot of Club Holidays and Adventures, Pink VIBGYOR was established two and a half years ago. They offer honeymoon and wedding packages and even help you make your ‘surrogacy holiday’ trouble free (though they are still trying to clear the many legal hurdles), and ensure their clients are treated with respect wherever they go. While most of their clientele are foreigners, Singla says that a considerable amount of Indian couples make enquiries about destination weddings.
The Gay Getaway
by, The times of India, March, 16, 2013
Gay-friendly travel companies are setting up shop as India becomes a popular destination for LGBT travellers.
The primary concern of most pink tourists is safety and security, so most of the travel companies are manned by members of the gay community. "LGBT people face discrimination. So when a gay traveller comes to India or a place where people don't accept their sexuality, they face harassment, " says Rohit Katara, inbound tour manager of PINK Vibgyor, which was launched in 2010 by Peter Hosie. "With us they can be themselves. "
Read More....
Pink tourism takes off in India
by, Business Today India, May, 26, 2013
There is also Pinkvibgyor.com, begun an Australian, Peter Housie, in January 2010.
The portal owners also noted that the majority of their clientele was male. "Lesbian couples are very wary of travelling to India, or at least they don't announce that they are lesbians while in India and they seldom come through agencies like ours," says Hosie. So too, travellers were mostly middle aged, perhaps because young people have less of disposable income.
One such couple was Robert Stanfield, 57, and Robert Unger, 55, from the US, who have been together for 31 years, and were on their second visit to India, organised by Pinkvibyor.
Report by Dearton Thomas Hector.
Gay tourism may be a big draw abroad, but players on the international circuit are not only sensing India’s potential, they have plans to draw the community here too.
Comparing India to a “sleeping giant”, Bomkes feels the country is an emerging destination for gay travellers around the world. However, despite the potential, India seems to be lagging behind in tapping the lucrative market, which saw a turnover of $2 trillion in 2012.
In his endeavour to promote India as one of the favourite gay destinations of the world, Bomkes took two gay-friendly Indian tour operators—Pink India and Pink Vibgyor—to ITB Berlin last year. It was the first time that two gay-friendly Indian tour operators took part in ITB Berlin and they were a huge success. “Most gay Germans and Europeans had no idea about ‘gay India’. They had never travelled to India…” says Bomkes.
THINK IN PINK- INDIA AS AN EMERGING PINK TOURISM DESTINATION
by, https://sanjana5.wordpress.com/2020/05/08/think-in-pink-india-emerging-to-be-a-pink-tourism-destination/ - On May 8th 2020.
Exclusive properties, custom packages: LGBT travellers in India are being treated like royalty
by, moneycontrol.com, Aug 26, 2017
Pink Vibgyor is also coming up with a property of its own in Udaipur and investing Rs 2.5 crore for the same. Unlike others in the business, it will cater to female couples too. With the idea of luring gay couples from foreign shores to India for expensive vacations, these companies are also offering special packages worth as high as Rs 6 lakh per person exclusively.
“Putting up the client in a gay-friendly hotel is just a part of the bespoke experience we offer," said Rajat Singla, director at Delhi-based Pink Vibjyor.
Singla is also tying up with hotel aggregators to book inventory across premium hotels exclusively for the category.
reported by, Tasmayee Laha Roy
Pink Vibgyor was set up in 2009, and is jointly run by New Delhi-based Rajat Singla and Sydney-based Peter Hosie. Singla has completed a Masters in Tourism and International Business from Waikato University, New Zealand, and says, “I came back to join my dad’s business. He’s been in the tourism industry for 35 years and runs his own travel agency – Club Holidays and Adventures. The LGBT tour outfit is a sub-division of Club Holidays and Adventures.”
reported by, Sanjana
Cond'e Nast traveller- Rainbow Travels
by, www.cntraveller.in , June,13, 2012
The Indian travel and tourism industry is at a crossroads. Over the past three years, lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) tourism, which caters to travellers who identify themselves as non-heterosexual, has been slowly sprouting new wings—and is now ready to take flight.
Pink Vibgyor, a Gurgaon-based tour operator, will also debut trips to Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Cambodia.
by Prasad Ramamurthy
Gay parades, parties attract LGBT tourists.
by, Hindustan times , Feb, 03, 2013
Delhi's rise as a "pink" destination can be attributed to the city's increasingly liberal attitude towards homosexuality and growing numbers of gay-friendly and gay-only restaurants, hotels and pubs.
The Capital figures high on the travel itinerary of international LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) travellers.
Pink Vibgyor founder Peter Hosie says his company informs hotels about his gay clientele so that the staffs behave accordingly. "Our guests are always accompanied by gay or gay-friendly tour guides wherever they go," he adds.
By Manoj Sharma, Hindustan times.
Holi colours draw foreign tourists to India.
by, The Times Of India , March, 27, 2013
A penchant for life in technicolour with a dash of herbal colours, crunchy gujias, chilled thandais and soulful ghazals: the heady cocktail is proving to be an irresistible draw for foreign tourists to celebrate Holi in India, say tourism industry experts.
What fascinates them the most, according to pink tour operator Peter Hosie of Pink Vibgyor, is the cultural connect.
"They like to explore the festive culture. We direct our tours to cities like Jaipur so that they can get a first-hand experience of the celebrations aided by a guide. They come from places in Europe and the US," Singla said."They are very eager to participate and so we provide them with white kurtas and herbal colours as well,".
Special Packages For LGBT Community, With Gay-Friendly Staff & Guides
by, Indiatimes.com, july 23 2016
It is a niche market to explore and people in India, quite contrary to what we believe, are warming up to the idea of hospitality in the LGBT segment. We keep the marketing of our brand subtle in the country but our global partners market it in a big way and we end up conducting 10 to 15 such trips to India a month which include not just gay group holidays but also honeymoon packages,"
said Rajat Singla, owner at Delhi-based Pink Vibjyor.
Tasmayee Laha Roy, indiatimes
India’s LGBT tourism gets shot in the arm
By Rohit Kaul/ Posted on 15 October, 2018 9:54
by, https://www.ttgasia.com/2018/10/15/indias-lgbt-tourism-gets-shot-in-the-arm/
Tour operators that were already catering to the LGBT segment expect the positive effects on tourism stemming from the Supreme Court ruling to become apparent from next year onwards.
“Considering India’s tourism season starts from October, tourists have already made plans for this year, so we have to be optimistic for 2019. Our existing clients have expressed happiness on the decriminalising of homosexuality and have also started making enquiries about various tours,” said Rajat Singla, director, Pink Vibgyor.
Since the new ruling, Singla has seen big Indian tour operators step up efforts to cater to LGBT travellers, such as by coming up with webpages on gay tourism.
“We are also trying to start gay bed and breakfast boutique stays in cities like New Delhi, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaipur,” he added.
reported by, Rohit Kaul
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