Blue City - Dragon Consulting offers a solution... How about Pink City?

Great Article in this weeks Economist about the way Argentina are grabbing the so-called pink tourist dollar.

I have a business suggestion in these tough times for local real estate developments. Pick one, just one, of the many beach developments going up in Oman right now, and unofficially/officially we make it, shall we say, european-metro-sexual friendly. IE Gay. Put it in Mussandam if you prefer.

Don't talk about it, ever. Heck, we control the media anyway! There'll be no need for anyone who doesn't want to know about it, to know about it, so just do it. Really, take this great opportunity to establish the best 'San Fransisco of the whole Middle East' this side of Cairo.





These guys (and gals) spend like crazy, are very well behaved generally, and usually don't have kids! They work. They're creative. They paaaarty. And, the best bit, is that the whole 'base load' can come from the GCC. Think New Orleans, think Amsterdam, think Sydney. All the great cities of the world have a vibrant gay section. The pink GCC dhiram is a very significant market. Go for it Oman. Its your country. Why the hell not?

Call it, Artistic City, if you must. Get a Cirque du Soleil (sp?) franchise, do art, design, architecture, ... come on, you get the idea!

Attract the brightest, the smartest, the richest, the most fun and dynamic people in the whole region who happen to be gay, and create something awesome. Get work done. Be tolerant. Be open minded. Be smart. Grasp the future before the rest of this region and the wealth and influence you will wield will astonish you.

Perhaps other contributors would be willing to contribute design and advertising ideas.

Argentina
Going pinker on the Plata
A new destination for gay tourists

Dec 4th 2008 | BUENOS AIRES The Economist print edition
AFP

It takes two men to tango
“FIRST you step, then you change direction. Don’t try to do both at the same time!” implores the instructor at La Marshall, a tango school in a sparsely decorated apartment in the centre of Buenos Aires. But one couple is having trouble taking any steps at all. A paunchy, middle-aged man with a shaved head awkwardly holds his partner—a much younger, thin, dark-skinned man from Australia—while attempting to shepherd him across the floor. Finally, after a few missteps, they decide to switch roles, with the slimmer man taking charge and deftly piloting his partner.

La Marshall, a predominantly same-sex venue, is one of many specialised attractions Buenos Aires offers gay tourists, who have flocked there since Argentina’s 2002 currency devaluation made it one of the world’s most affordable destinations. Tourism officials reckon that at least a fifth of foreign visitors to the city are homosexuals.

In recent years, Buenos Aires has hosted a gay tourism symposium, a gay football tournament, a gay film festival and the first gay cruise in South American waters; it is now home to a gay hotel, a gay bookstore, and a network of stores providing discounts to customers wielding a “gay-friendly Buenos Aires” card. The influx of so-called “pink money” has become a pillar of the city’s economy. Gay tourists, most of whom are affluent and childless, spend on average around $250 a day on top of their hotel bill.

The city’s combination of European architectural elegance and Latin American flair at knock-down prices has attracted tourists of all sexual orientations. But unlike many other Latin American cities, Buenos Aires has established a reputation as being open and tolerant in a region where homophobia remains prevalent. It has been a regional leader in expanding gay rights.

The city council has approved a law authorising same-sex civil unions, and taken other measures that provide for benefits to pass to surviving partners in such unions and to require hospitals to refer to transgender patients by their chosen rather than legal names. And its array of gay-themed or gay-friendly venues comfortably eclipses the offerings in other Latin American capitals. “How many gay discos are there in Ecuador?” asks Alfredo Ferreyra of Buegay, a tour company. “Here, we speak the same language as our clients.”

Some complain that the gay scene in Buenos Aires has become too mainstream. They question how deep the tolerance goes. “I don’t know how people would react if you walk too close together with your partner or hold hands on the street,” says Urs Jenni, a Swiss guest at the Axel, a “heterofriendly” gay hotel where rooms cost up to $500 a night. The only notably gay element in its futuristic lobby is the silhouette of a man’s torso imprinted on a glass barrier.

Others worry that homosexual tourists are no better shielded from the world financial crisis than anyone else. “At this time of year, we had 120 to 150 people a night,” says Roxana Gargano, the organiser of La Marshall. “Now we’re down to around 80. It’s hit us pretty hard.”