About

LGBTQ Global Travel Expert

Called “ the world’s leading LGBTQ global travel expert,” I’ve worked in LGBTQ tourism and hospitality on just about every capacity imaginable: marketing, communications, PR, influencer trips, sensitivity and sales training, sponsorships, events, content creation, and crisis response and recovery. I’m a sought after public speaker on hospitality/tourism/travel marketing; PR; communications; LGBTQ travel safety; LGBTQ sensitivity & sales training; evolving media landscape; working with editors/media.

I have worn many hats in the travel space:

Proven marketing and communications consultant helping primarily mainstream hospitality and tourism marketers increase their share of the lucrative LGBT travel segment;
Sought-after public speaker;
Co-founder of HospitableMe specializing in strategy, marketing and LGBTQ sensitivity and sales training;
Co-founder ManAboutWorld gay travel magazine and influential expert, journalist, blogger and on-air radio personality frequently quoted in mainstream and queer press; and
Industry leader: I served for six years on the Board of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel, the leading global organization in the LGBT tourism industry, with key committee positions in development and finance.

Marketing/PR

I love to help clients in tourism and hospitality understand; authentically market to; and confidently serve the lucrative LGBTQ travel segment. My experience includes designing and launching successful marketing, PR and social media campaigns for hotels, airlines, and destinations.

More here>>

Public Speaking

I’m proud to be considered a highly informed, organized and articulate professional speaker who delivers insights into and best practices for the LGBTQ segment — always with a sense of humor and deep respect for the audience.

More here>>

Training

I helped launch a new division of our ManAboutWorld called HospitableMe. With a deep background in consumer-facing LGBTQ travel, the Hospitable.Me team provides bespoke training for hospitality-focused businesses. We improve service for all of your customers, by helping people look beyond gender identity, sexual orientation and relationship status to focus on individual customers, their needs and preferences. I no longer work full time with HospitableMe but I am frequently contracted to deliver their training. We trained over 2,000 customer-facing hospitality staff (and sales executives) in LGBTQ sensitivity since 2017.

Read testimonials from satisfied clients here>>

Chief Content Officer

I was chief content officer of ManAboutWorld, the world’s first gay travel magazine built exclusively for mobile devices from 2012-2020. Prior to that I was editor in chief of The Out Traveler for four years, a glossy, smart and indispensable quarterly travel magazine, considered the gay Condé Nast Traveler. I was also editorial direcdtor of The Out Traveler guidebooks, a series of five print-based gay-oriented travel guides. Earlier I was editor in chief for five years of Out & About, the world’s foremost authority on gay travel during its tenure from 1992 through 2004. In addition, I was in charge of the following travel websites: PlanetOut.com/travel, Gay.com/Travel, OutTraveler.com, GPS.OutTraveler.com (our travel blog) and worked closely with the editors to populate Advocate.com/travel and Out.com/travel with appropriate content.

Author

I co-authored definitive industry book: the Handbook of LGBT Tourism & Hospitality Marketing: A Guide for Business Practice (published by Harrington Park Press and distributed by Columbia University Press in 2017).

University Professor

I’m also an adjunct instructor at NYU School of Tourism and Hospitality currently teaching customer relationship management and other classes since 2018. I’m also a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin’s NYC Campus as of 2021. And as of 2023, I am a marketing professor at Campus, a new online community college program that’s dedicated to affordability, access, and quality support in higher education.

Education

Harvard University: BS in applied mathematics and economics
Northeastern University: MBA with focus on market research.

Video, Radio, TV

I’ve written scripts for and provided voice over for approximately 50 travel-related videos for here! Media. I have been the travel expert on a wide range of radio shows, Radio with a Twist (national show), Proud FM (Toronto), WFNX One-in-Ten (Boston) and Sirius/XM OutQ. I’ve been featured on several television shows, including In the Life (a segment on gay New York), Deco Drive (a segment on Ft. Lauderdale). I was the the on-air travel expert on the Derek & Romaine show on Sirius/XM OutQ 109 from 2002 to 2013. I was Proud FM’s travel expert on the monthly Travel Tuesday show for 5 years. Find the podcasts here.

Click here to listen to me talking travel with Josh and Sara from here! TV.

Social Media

I’ve been working with social media since the beginning. My biggest social media activation currently is a semi-annual Twitter Chat on LGBTQ travel safety that I organize in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs. It’s the largest such activation they promote and it regular generates more than 50 million impressions and reaches over 4 million accounts.

Board Member of IGLTA + IGLTA Foundation

The International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, the leading global organization dedicated to connecting businesses in the LGBT tourism industry. has over 2,000 member organizations (with over 2,000 individual members) in an astonishing 83 countries worldwide. As an elected member of the Board, I am the current Treasurer and belong to the Development, Election and Finance committees. I also work closely with the IGLTA staff on matters relating to our new consumer initiatives. I was appointed to the Board of Directors of the IGLTA Foundation and worked with them to identify worthy LGBT-travel related beneficiaries of the endowment dedicated to that.

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS

Launched ManAboutWorld in 2012, the world’s first gay travel magazine for iPad only and HospitableMe, a consulting brand specializing in strategy, content marketing and hospitality & tourism training with Billy Kolber.
Editor in chief of The Out Traveler, the world’s largest magazine catering to gays and lesbians, with 220,000 subscribers.
Editorial director for all travel media at PlanetOut Inc and Regent Media, including The Out Traveler, OutTraveler.com, GPS.OutTraveler.com, Advocate Magazine, Advocate.com/travel, Gay.com/travel, PlanetOut.com/travel, and Alyson Books’ series of Out Traveler Travel Guides (printed books); and he was travel editor for Out Magazine and a contributing editor at Out.com/travel.
Editor in chief of OUT & ABOUT and OutandAbout.com which was published from 1992 to 2003. OUT & ABOUT was considered THE standard of gay travel and was the leading voice of gay travel for most of its long life. Ed helped write, edit and update over 150 travel guides which were delivered for a fee from the website OutandAbout.com.
Regular on-air, call-in radio spot on Sirius OutQ on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio with Derek and Romaine.
Speaks frequently about LGBTQ travel and travel safety at mainstream and LGBTQ travel-related events around the world.
Download my CV here.

Contact me

(917) 846-7177 ♦ Email me at ed@edsalvato.com