The first trade show for businesses eager to target Colombia’s gay consumers will run this September in Bogota.
“Expogay Colombia: Culture and Art of Living” will target Colombia’s growing “pink market”, said organizers, because it was “now essential to include the gay segment in marketing policies.”
“For the first time in Colombia, there will be a fair bringing together the LGBTI community with exhibitors interested in offering their services and products” to a group with unique tastes and needs, promotional material for the expo asserted.
No exact figures exist on the size of Colombia’s LGBTI community, but organizers claim recent estimates put the figure at 8% of the country’s population.
The fair will include businesses operating in the fields of tourism, fashion, banking, beauty, culture, health and sports.
Alongside business exhibits, Expogay will also hold discussions, debates and lectures on the social inclusion of LGBTI people in Colombia’s mainstream society.
Organizers linked the trade show to increasing efforts to tailor businesses to the gay community, including negotiations to establish a Colombian affiliate of the United State’s National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).
Members of the NGLCC met with Colombian officials, business and gay rights advocates in Bogota in October 2011 to organize for the first official U.S. government LGBTI trade mission, planned for this year.
Expogay runs September 14 and 15 at the Bogota Hilton hotel.
