Gaydar aims for tailored travel service on the Net

Gaydar, the radio station and website, is launching a standalone online travel service, to offer tailored holidays to gay and lesbian travellers.

The service aims to build on the Gaydar brand and will be supported by a £1m advertising and marketing campaign to raise awareness. It will cross-promote Gaydartravel.com across the digital and internet radio station, and its website.

Gaydartravel.com offers tailored holidays to long- and short-haul destinations, including the US, South Africa and Europe. It is also working with gay travel companies in the US with a view to introducing similar products to the UK market.

The launch follows research carried out by Gaydar Radio which showed that its listeners used the internet to book holidays. It found that they took an average of 2.5 holidays last year and that 59 per cent of respondents made their own travel and accommodation arrangements.

Gaydartravel manager Darren Cooper says that the service also aims to ensure that gay and lesbian travellers do not miss out on offers from mainstream operators. He says: “Gay travel has changed considerably over the past few years, so we aim to offer more choice, a great number of destinations and flexibility for our customers.”

Gaydartravel.com is part of the Travel Trust Association, the largest independent not-for-profit travel association in the UK, and a member of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association.