LGBT
tour operator Brand g Vacations is about to celebrate its first year in
business with a sold-out Danube River cruise, and General Manager
Charlie Rounds is making good on his promise to deliver a new and
meaningful gay travel product. The company is working with local LGBT
organizations in Prague and Bratislava to provide guests with optional
activities that stray from the conventional.
Brand
g’s pre-cruise welcome reception in Prague will feature guest speaker
Czeslaw Walek, community advocate and Chair of Prague Pride. Walek
helped organize the first-ever and highly successful event last summer,
which drew strong crowds as well as strong opposition from Czech
president Vaclav Klaus and right-wing groups.
“I
was very impressed that Brand g Vacations made the effort to reach out
to us,” said Walek. “It shows that they are going above and beyond in
their commitment to their guests. We are delighted to be a part of their
itinerary.”
Walek
has invited Rounds, a respected speaker on LGBT rights, to speak to a
group of Czech business leaders and to address the crowds on closing day
of the second annual Prague Pride.
“It
means a lot to me to be asked to speak to such an influential group of
business leaders, and even more so to address the people who are making
real change by coming out to celebrate together,” said Rounds. “In all
the years I’ve been in gay group travel, I’ve dreamed of taking our
community one step further, of educating ourselves about the
destinations we visit, and of giving back to the local communities. This
is our chance to do that.”
While
in Bratislava, Slovakia, Brand g Vacations has organized a private
reception and LGBT photography exhibit at the local offices of Open
Society Foundations (OSF), established by philanthropist George Soros to
help countries transition from communism and whose mission includes the
protection of LGBT rights. Rounds will be making a personal
contribution to Queer Leaders Forum, a local organization in Bratislava,
and guests will have the option of doing the same.
In
addition to its Danube cruise, Brand g Vacations has signed two new
charters for 2013, including a Mekong River cruise through Vietnam and
Cambodia, and a Burgundy and Provence cruise on the Rhone River in
France, with pre- and post-cruise programs in Paris and Barcelona.
Rounds
points out that both Vietnam and France are poised to pass legislation
in the coming year granting marriage rights for their gay and lesbian
citizens. He says it would be another dream come true to celebrate those
victories and support destinations that are improving the lives of LGBT
people.
“There’s
no better way to support destinations that welcome us than with our
tourism dollars,” says Rounds. “A full ship of LGBT passengers can make a
strong statement, and it gives us the chance to validate the power of
travel through our choices.”
Lauched
in August 2011, Brand g Vacations is wholly-owned by The Mark Travel
Corporation and has positioned itself to capture a growing segment of
the LGBT community that includes a mix of gay men and lesbians as well
as straight allies.