The City of Orlando on Wednesday became
the first U.S. city to announce it would enter the competition to
host the 2018 Gay Games, the Orlando
Sentinel reported.
The Olympic-style sporting event will
return to the United States in 2014 with Cleveland, Ohio serving as
the host city. The quadrennial sporting event was last held in
Cologne, Germany.
Other cities expressing interest in
hosting the next event include London, Paris, Las Vegas and possibly
Brazil.
The bid will be prepared by Converge
Orlando Inc., the LGBT Convention & Visitors Bureau for Central
Florida.
Mikael Audebert told WKMG
that the event could be worth $150 million in economic impact.
“We're going to make it happen,” he
said.
The group also unveiled a tourism
campaign aimed at the gay traveler.
“They tend to be more recession
proof, continuing to travel when other groups curtail,” said
Converge Orlando's Paul Queen.
Queen pointed out that popular LGBT
events like Walt Disney World's Gay Days have already made Orlando a
top U.S. destination for gay travelers.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he is
“extremely supportive” of the effort to bring the 2018 Gay Games
to his city.
“Orlando has created a reputation for
fairness, equality, diversity and tolerance, and would be a perfect
locale to host this,” he said.
Officials will announce the host of the
next Gay Games in 2014.