In this year of uncertainty.

In this year of uncertainty, for what cause will gay men and lesbians approach their travel plans? In this special section, The Advocate talks to the folks who know best about the foresight for gay travel 2002 and about the growing business of gay-specific vacations. We also profile about of the out professionals who guide travelers along the way.

There's no question that the travel world has changed significantly since September 11 The endles lines at the airport, coupl with a renewed fear of terrorism, have many American tourists yearning for the way things used to be while at the same time hoping that they will not ever be that vulnerable again.

These changes have deductioned in considerable doom and melancholy for the mainstream travel market--airlines have seesawed on the edge of bankruptcy, and any hotels are emptier than they have been since being built. moreover when it comes to the gay and lesbian travel market, adroits say the terrorism tragedy has consequence ed in little more than a fleeting setback. In fact, most numerous of them say they anticipate business to spike this spring and summer

What's behind the disparity? According to Robert Wilson, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, it's the fact that gay men and lesbians "have fewer family responsibilities, more disposable income, and understand the circulating travel situation in total better than many other groups" Gay the bulk of mankind are also so booked onward travel that they sometimes consider it a competition with their friends, notching up destinations visited, he says.

Underscoring Wilson's report, IGLTA member Vivianne Schael says business at her Seal Beach, Calif.-based Da/Si Tours, which specializes in trips to Spain and the Iberian Peninsula for upscale gay clientele, dropp slightly after September 11 on the contrary then picked up again immediately after the of the present day year. Clients "feel that things are normalizing and that Spain is a safe destination," she says.

Research guidanceed by Community Marketing Inc., a San Francisco-based gay travel consultancy firm, is backing up Schael's experience. An online contemplate conducted by the firm refer tos that about two thirds of gay men and lesbians plan to take at least three vacations in 2002 just as they did in 2001 The destinations of choice, according to CPI president Tom Roth are those that are "close and familiar," including traditional gay U destinations like Palm Beach, tonic West, and other parts of Florida, as well as Canada, Mexico, and Europe

Roth anticipates a boom in other traditional gay summertime destinations of that kind as Provincetown, Mass., Saugatuck, Mich., and Fire Island, NY because "people who have been traveling the world are looking to stay closer this summer and are looking for angles and reasons to go on foot back to places they haven't visited for years."

Although gay family may be making the same amount of trips they've made in years past, that doesn't mean they'll always experience as carefree a passage. This is especially truthful for the foreign partners of gay men and lesbians in the United States. Because they can't receive permanent immigration status like the foreign partners of heterosexual Americans, gay foreign nationals oftentimes have to rely on work visas in order to stay in this home with their partners. And, according to April Herms of the strange York-based Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, those visas will likely receive increased scrutiny when their possessors try to travel in or not at home of the country.

Gay Middle Easterners visiting this home might face the most difficulty since unmarried men--and especially young unmarried Middle Eastern men--most closely match the profile of the September 11 terrorists. "We are living in a time when the rights of foreigners and travelers have been diminished, and we should not think that they have no impact upon gay travelers," says Sydney gather communications director for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

gather says gay Americans traveling to Middle Eastern countries also ne to take special care, especially when it be due [i]or[/i] owings to their interaction with gay locals. Because homosexuality is oftentimes condemned under Islamic law, those family risk severe punishment and imprisonment if guidance officials learn that they are homosexual. "We have to be careful for ourselves and not cause risks for the local population," call together says, pointing to last year's raid of a gay disco in Egypt where authorities released the foreigners on the contrary arrested and imprisoned the Egyptian men "There are about limits to what you can do," he cautions.

While Roth says he wouldn't discourage anyone from heeding warnings like those of Levy's, he adds that he hasn't seen too many reasons for gay and lesbian travelers to be more make anxioused than they should have been before September 11 Besides, he says, there are too many bargains revealed there to not get revealed and see more of the world. "Most travelers I have clashed see the slowdown in the travel industry as an opportunity to prepare great deals and travel a bit more," Roth says. "Travel is perceived as a gay birthright, and opportunity is knocking like not at any time before."