Tel Aviv - The Pink City...

The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association will meet in Tel Aviv....

The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association will, for the first time ever, hold its annual symposium in Tel Aviv this October. The event is expected to attract some 200 travel agents that specialize in the gay and lesbian market.

On Wednesday, also for the first time, representatives of Israel's gay and lesbian community took part in the international tourism fair in Berlin. Representatives included Yaniv Weizman, who holds the tourism portfolio in the Tel Aviv council and Shay Deutsch, the community's spokesman.

"Most of the IGLTA members are travel agencies that cater to the gay and lesbian community around the world and hotel chains and aviation companies that market special products to the members of the community," said Deutsch, speaking at the fair.

"Besides the representatives at the Israeli booth, this year we also have representatives in the homo-lesbian tourism association's booth that is displayed in fairs around the world."

Deutsch said the IGLTA holds two symposiums each year, and this year it chose to have one of them in Israel. The convention will be held by the Kenes exhibitions company, along with Tel Aviv's Tourist Association, and the Tel Aviv Hotel Association.

"The advantage of such a convention is that it exposes to travel agencies around the world what Tel Aviv has to offer to the gay population, and after such a convention, tourism blossoms in the hosting city," Deutsch said.

The spokesman added that every city that has hosted this event in the past received great exposure in the gay community's journalism around the world.

"Now, just as we refer to Tel Aviv as the White City, we will also have Tel Aviv - the pink city," said Deutsch, adding that the city's gay community "is preparing, ahead of the convention, special packages for the gay community, that will include partying at Tel Aviv nightclubs, meetings with members of the community and more."

I wonder how long it will take before they can having a meeting like this in Gaza...