IGLTA Foundation Opens Application Period For The 2017 Scholarship
by Heather Cassell
The International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association announced that it is accepting applications for the Building Bridges Scholarship Program for young lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender travel professional.
Now in its fifth year, the scholarship supports the professional development of LGBT travel professionals by awarding them with a mostly paid trip to attend the 34th Annual Global Convention of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association in St. Petersburg, Florida, May, 3-6 2017.
“The scholarship program to attend the annual IGLTA convention for deserving students and emerging business professionals passionate about LGBT tourism is one of the cornerstone objectives of the Foundation’s focus,” says Gary Murakami, CMP, CMM, chair of the IGLTA Foundation Board. “It provides these individuals an unparalleled opportunity to connect and to learn from leaders in the community who are on the forefront in advancing LGBT global tourism.”
Scholarship recipients will benefit from educational and networking workshops and events that will help them further their careers and build their businesses. The winners will be provided all-expense paid travel, accommodations, and registration to the four-day conference in St. Petersburg.
Vidar Nilsen, founder of the Oslo-based travel agency Travelberry, a scholarship winner who attended this year’s IGLTA Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, says that is was a “unique opportunity for me as a newly established company within the LGBT travel industry.”
He was able to quickly get beyond talking about his customers and get “directly into talking about a possible future cooperation, it made everything much easier.”
Previous scholarship winners have come from Brazil, Colombia, China, Curacao, Jamaica, Japan, Liberia, Norway, Peru, South Africa, Suriname and the United States.
Students enrolled in a tourism-related program and young travel professionals or small business owners in destinations without well-established LGBT tourism initiatives from around the world are encouraged to apply. The deadline is November 18.
Book your next trip to Florida with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel in association with Travel Advisors of Los Gatos at 415-517-7239 or at .
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