New travel website - Exclusively Pride
Exotic destinations for gay and lesbian travellers.Planet London attended the launch event for Exclusively Pride at Ku Bar on Thursday 27 October 2011.
Exclusively Pride is a new web based travel service offering gay holiday makers and travellers something different – a safe, tailor made holiday or travel experience without being confined to the usual gay resort hotspots such as Gran Canaria.
Specialising in Exotic and luxury travel, Exclusively Pride aims to meet your needs – by finding what you want, and using their expert knowledge to ensure you find those “hidden gems”. You will receive advice and support on how to stay safe as a gay traveller and information on how gay friendly particular countries are using the Exclusively Pride star rating.
Top destinations currently offered by the company include Southern and East Africa, India and paradise honeymoon getaways.
We spoke to owner, Gerla Pusey-de Boer, about where the idea came from to set up the service. Dutch born Gerla has always travelled throughout her adult life, and has worked internationally, in cities such as Cape Town, in the travel and retail industries. After years in the food retail industry, Gerla realised that travel was an industry she wanted to explore.
Three years ago, there wasn’t much of an interest in tailored, luxury travelling, but recently the interest has picked up, in particular with gay clientale. From there, Gerla realised that there may be more gay people wanting to travel to exotic destinations but who felt unsure of the safety issues and who would avoid some fantastic destinations because of lack of information or bespoke travel arrangements that could provide a unique holiday experience.
The idea is the people can choose a holiday of their own making and Gerla will co-ordinate the logistical arrangements, working with trusted suppliers and negotiating friendly rates for lesbian and gay travellers. The focus is on responsible travelling – learning about real communities through experienced local guides, who we are assured, leave the travellers “in good hands”.
The site offers inspiration for those who do not know what they want, based on Gerla’s own travel expertise. Gerla is truly passionate about travel, and wants to share that with those who might not normally go down the luxury/bespoke travel route with some real ‘out of the box’ thinking at the planning stage.
Photos sourced from Exclusively Pride Facebook page
Review by Katie
