The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, or IGLTA, is an association of travel agents, tour

Tour guide

A tour guide provides assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage interpretation to people on organized tours, individual clients, educational establishments, at religious and historical sites, museums, and at venues of other significant interest...

 operators, hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

s and guest houses, airlines, destination management organizations, and other travel-related enterprises dedicated to gay and lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

. It was founded in 1983, and is based in Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

.

History

Founded in 1983, with 25 members, IGLTA is presently 2,000-plus member and growing not-for-profit organization of gay, lesbian and community friendly travel professionals from more than 80 countries.

Membership in IGLTA is open to all travel and travel-related businesses and professionals who support the gay/lesbian travel industry throughout the world.

IGLTA Annual Convention

Each year, IGLTA hosts an Annual Convention in a different spot around the globe. This year IGLTA's 27th annual global convention was held in Antwerp, Belgium. The 28th edition is set for May 10–15, 2011 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The 2012 convention will be held in Florianópolis

Florianópolis

-Climate:Florianópolis experiences a warm humid subtropical climate, falling just short of a true tropical climate. The seasons of the year are distinct, with a well-defined summer and winter, and characteristic weather for autumn and spring. Frost is infrequent, but occurs occasionally in the winter...

, Brazil. The 2013 convention is set for Chicago, Illinois.

External links

• International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association — official website
• Buenos Aires Gay Travel — Member of IGLTA since May 23, 2008