Wondering where the safest and friendliest places to celebrate pride in 2018?
Airbnb reveal the world’s top destinations for an unforgettable Pride this year.
Through a specially commissioned study conducted by ABCD in May 2018, the people-powered hospitality platform with a mission to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere has found out which destinations have the most to offer LGBTQ travellers.
The study looked at 100 cities with the highest Pride attendance worldwide and found out which of these fared best under five different LGBTQ categories, including nightlife and dating. Here are the winning cities and categories:
1. OVERALL WINNER – New York City
The Big Apple not only offers one of the biggest Pride celebrations, it also boasts a bustling nightlife, a busy dating scene, well-established marriage equality and impressive Airbnb stats: the city that sparked the gay Pride movement following the Stonewall riots will welcome over 27,000 guests on Airbnb during Pride Week.
Runners-up 2. London, 3. Madrid, 4.San Francisco, 5. Paris, 6. Berlin, 7. Toronto, 8. Chicago, 9. Los Angeles, and 10. Amsterdam.
2. TINDER DATING WINNER – London
Traditionally a mecca for LGBTQ travellers, it’s no surprise that London topped the ranking for dating. Using data shared with Airbnb by Tinder this May, they discovered that the British capital has the highest per capita usage of LGBTQ Tinder profiles worldwide (via Tinder’s More Genders feature).
Sydney places 9 in the Dating category so why not take your date to Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Australia’s most successful musical? On this Experience, bookable on Airbnb, you’ll get to go behind the scenes and take a sneak peek at the costumes, wigs and make-up from the production that usually only cast and crew get to see.
3. NIGHTLIFE WINNER – New York City
Looking at the number of LGBTQ clubs and bars, New York City is a top destination in this category too.
The city that never sleeps is closely followed in this ranking by 2. Los Angeles, 3. Tokyo, 4. Berlin, 5. Madrid, 6. London, 7. Mexico City, 8. Paris, 9. San Francisco, and 10. Barcelona.
4. PRIDE WINNER – São Paulo, Brazil
In terms of sheer numbers attending Pride celebrations, São Paulo tops the ranking in this category. Approximately 3 million visitors attended last year’s celebrations.
Liniker, a popular transgender musician from São Paulo, will take guests to some of her favourite local spots and end her experience with a private listening session of her upcoming album.
(read our warning about Brazil)
Next in line are 2. Toronto, 3. New York, 4. Madrid, 5. London, 6. San Francisco, 7. Chicago, 8. Cologne, 9. Houston, and 10. Paris.
5 – MARRIAGE EQUALITY (JOINT) WINNERS – Amsterdam, Rotterdam & Utrecht, Netherlands
Airbnb also looked at their list of cities to find out which destinations pioneered LGBTQ marriage equality. In the Netherlands, same-sex marriage was made legal in 2001, making it the first country in the world to do so. This places the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht in joint first position.
The Dutch paved the way, but these countries and their respective cities followed closely behind:
6. TRAVEL WINNER – London
For this category, Airbnb looked at cities that had the highest year-on-year growth in Airbnb guest arrivals during Pride. They also identified which cities have the highest number of LGBTQ Experiences on Airbnb and where you can find Airbnb Guidebooks with the highest number of tips for LGBTQ travellers.
160K+guests are expected to check in to an Airbnb during London’s Pride Week
The top city in this ranking is London, followed by 2. Los Angeles, 3. New York, 4. San Francisco, 5. Tokyo, 6. Paris, 7. Montreal, 8. Amsterdam, 9.Berlin, and 10. Barcelona.
