Cape Town - Cape Town has been ranked among the world’s top five “surprisingly friendly” lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) travel destinations.
In a newly released survey conducted by SCRUFF, one of the leading gay dating apps, with 10 million members worldwide, in conjunction with The New York Times, has ranked the city fifth in its “off the beaten path” or “surprisingly gay-friendly” travel destination.
The ranking also indicates positivity pertaining to safety in destinations with a history of anti-LGBT discrimination.
For this travel-based survey, SCRUFF ran two separate surveys. The first survey ran from May 27 to June 10 and received responses from 3603 men. This survey sought to determine overall travel trends among gay men.
The second survey, conducted in collaboration with The New York Times Travel Section, was designed to dig deeper into more subjective questions: where do gay men like to travel and why?
The second poll ran between June 9 and 13 and received 1333 responses. Times reporter Steven McElroy surveyed members about their off-the-beaten-path travel destinations, as well as their impressions about safety in destinations.
In the survey results it was revealed that gay guys travel more often than the general population. And when they do travel, they spend more and often travel alone.
Free Gender’s Funeka Soldaat said while the survey had showed that Cape Town was a “surprisingly gay-friendly” destination, the local LGBT community still faced discrimination in spaces outside the city centre.
“People who travel to Cape Town end up in the CBD. So they don’t really go to places or see places outside the city. It is a reality that for people outside of the city, Cape Town is not a friendly city for gay and bisexual people. There are two separate communities, those in towns and those in townships.”
Cape Times