Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco - Puerto Vallarta gay business owners and representatives of businesses that cater to the LGBT community held their first forum on Monday, March 6th with the goal of increasing the city's share of Mexico's estimated 5.6 billion dollar tourism sector. The Gay Business Working Group of Puerto Vallarta, GEGPV for its Spanish Acronym, invited 8 speakers to present on new projects to promote to one of the city's natural segments.

Key speakers included City Hall's Carlos Gerard, GayPV.com's Tim Wilson, Gay Social Media Alliance's Don Pickens, and Daniel Gomez from Mijo! Brands. Hosted by the Almar Resort's Alain Chalut (formerly Hotel Meza del Mar), the 2 hour meeting attracted 50 local business owners who listened as speakers presented a diversity of strategies and business concepts aimed directly at the LGBT tourism segment.

"GEGPV was created to work in tandem with the city's official agencies to promote the destination," explained Gabriela Escandon of Mijo! Brands, the agency that developed the GayPV.com website. "Of course, like every segment, the LGBT sector requires a specific tone of voice which this groups intends to address directly in a complimentary way."

Paco Arjona, SETAC's Managing Director commented: "There is still work to be done in creating a truly welcoming global destination. The economic benefit from LGBT travellers is immense; we cannot afford to ignore such an important segment of ours visitors."

While the city's official strategy includes LGBT targeting, GEGPV members will develop complementary strategies to target both the national and international markets. The group is working to raise the LGBT business community's profile locally and build a business case for integrated campaigns. Puerto Vallarta will have an official presence at the LGBT conference in New York later this week and will be present at the third international LGBT CONFEX in Guadalajara in September 2014.

GEGPV will help coordinate various subcommittees to allow businesses to focus on areas of most interest to them including events and education. The events sub-committee will convene on Thursday, March 14th at 5:00 pm and will be led by Christian Gutierrez, owner of Gay Vallarta Bar Hopping Tour.

The second GEGPV general committee meeting will be held on April 9th, with the time and location yet to be confirmed. For additional group and meeting information, please email prensa(at)gaypv.mx, or visit the group's Facebook page.