When Philadelphia’s Altus Group decided to expand their city’s highly successful gay and lesbian tourist guidebook to other destinations, San Diego was on the top of their list. Now, through a partnership with the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA), San Diego is going to be the next city in a series of City NaviGaytor publications.

“San Diego was one of our top cities,” said Bill Gehrman, Altus vice president of strategic services. “San Diego is a fantastic location for all visitors, and [is] especially known for being a gay-friendly destination.”

San Diego’s version is being modeled after the Philadelphia travel guide, now in its third year. Slated to arrive this month, the inaugural San Diego City NaviGaytor will be a 5.5 x 8.5-inch booklet and provide information about regional sites, restaurants, hotels, recreation, shopping and entertainment.

“The gay and lesbian tourism market is an incredibly valuable and attractive segment that travels a great deal,” said Joyce Marieb, executive director of the GSDBA, San Diego’s gay and lesbian chamber of commerce. “We hope this guide will provide helpful information to those visitors already coming to San Diego, as well as attract more people to experience our great region.”

Every page is written with the gay traveler in mind, and gives an overview of gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses, clubs and bars, and places of historical or cultural significance to the community.

“There’s not going to be stories, as such,” Marieb said. “More of where to go, what the neighborhoods are like, arts and culture that’s available … they’ll talk about Hillcrest and what it’s like.”

Gehrman said the book is not trying to compete with other existing travel publications, but complement them.

“It’s unique because it connects the gay community and the tourism community. There are a lot of publications that are gay publications and there are a lot of publications that are tourism publications,” he said. “It’s designed as an add-on to the standard visitor guide.”

The GSDBA chose to sponsor the book to gain that exposure. Marieb said the GSDBA promotes all business in San Diego, not just gay and lesbian companies.

“It benefits the GSDBA by involving us in a larger activity in San Diego,” Marieb said. “There’s a tendency, when you get labeled gay and lesbian, that people see you as an isolated group and not as a member of society here. We try to break down those barriers.”

Several of the advertisers, for example, are not GSDBA members and are relatively new at marketing to the local community.

“The hotels have been supportive of this publication. The hotels know the value of the gay traveler. They want to make sure they are out there in front of the gay market,” Gehrman said. He listed the Best Western in Carlsbad, Inn at Sunset Cliffs and Radisson at Rancho Bernardo as some of the new businesses joining the gay and lesbian market. “As a gay man, I am excited about them being gay friendly. Sometimes the dollar is the igniter of social change.”

Altus has a lot of experience promoting that social change in the gay and lesbian travel market, too. A full-service marketing agency located in Philadelphia, Altus specializes in advertising to the gay and lesbian consumer. The organization created the first comprehensive advertising campaign for a United States destination targeting gay and lesbian travelers, and developed the award-winning “Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay” tourism campaign for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation.

Altus Group also produces the City NaviGaytor for Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. San Diego may have been on the top of the list for new destinations, but it’s not the last.

“San Diego is going to be our third city,” Gehrman said. “We are currently speaking on different levels to a variety of different cities from Chicago and Toronto to New Orleans and Austin, Texas. That’s just a sample of cities we’re speaking with.”

The response has been positive from every city, but San Diego’s GSDBA was fast to accept the project.

“For years, one of the things I’ve wanted to do is promote San Diego as a destination for gays and lesbians,” Marieb said. That has been difficult; the San Diego Tourism and Convention Bureau had an interest, but no funds. “They just couldn’t afford to do it,” she said.

“Across the country, there are a dozen destinations that are interested in welcoming and marketing to gay and lesbian travelers, but they are just not sure where to begin,” Gerhrman said. “I had met Joyce [Marieb] at the first National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce convention in Washington, D.C., in 2004. When I had sent her a copy of the books for Pittsburg and Philadelphia, she contacted me right away.”

“Certainly, the GSDBA board of directors was very enthusiastic,” Marieb said. “Every one of them was just thrilled to be involved in it. This is the kind of a thing a business group does.”

There will be 10,000 copies of the City NaviGaytor printed for San Diego’s first year, growing each year during its three-year contract. Philadelphia has already grown to 40,000 copies.

“It’ll be distributed at visitor centers, special events, through the GSDBA and at hotels,” Gehrman said. “We’re also working to distribute the books at gay travel expos.” He also said Altus Group will be targeting the “drive market,” since statistics show that most tourists drive to San Diego from throughout the West.