On the heels of a successful campaign to have the first municipal Domestic Partnership Registry in Arkansas, gay and lesbian business owners in Eureka Springs are now joining forces to create the first gay business association in the state. The goal, advocates say, is to bring more gay tourists to a resort town that has had a long history of being a gay-friendly travel destination.

According to the Associated Press, gay tourism is a $55 billion a year industry, representing about 10 percent of the American tourist market. Each dollar spent by gay travelers generates more than $150 for a local economy. At least 75 cities around the world now have marketing campaigns aimed specifically at gay and lesbian travelers, as do travel companies like Orbitz, Travelocity, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

This week alone, at least nine gay/lesbian businesses expressed interest in joining a new Eureka Springs Gay Business Guild. The first meeting of the group is scheduled for 6 p.m. August 15 at the Harken Building at 50 N. Main St.

The effort to create an umbrella organization to represent gay and lesbian business owners is being spearheaded by Rob Wagner, owner of Eureka Springs Limousine, and Harold Ellis, proprietor of the Texaco Bungalow B&B.

«Other popular gay travel destinations--Key West, Provincetown and Palm Springs just to name a few--have had gay business associations for years,» says Wagner. «With almost fifty gay- and lesbian-owned businesses in Eureka Springs, the time has come for us to band together to support each other and to pool our resources.»

A primary objective of the group, says Ellis, is to attract more gay and lesbian visitors. «We need to work together and exchange ideas, to find ways to reach out to gay travelers by advertising in gay publications and on gay web sites and attending travel conventions in other cities and states.»

At the same time, says Wagner, «we'd like the guild to work as a liaison between gay businesses and the Greater Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce and the City Advertising and Promotion Commission. The fact is, they need us as much as we need them. We have insights and information about gay tourists and gay businesses that the mainstream organizations don't have.

«For example, if you can attract a gay traveler, then he or she brings a partner and often friends and parents and kids. And when that happens, the entire business community--gay and straight--benefits.»

The notion of having an organization to represent the interests gay-owned businesses is appealing to Denise Coleman who, along with partner Rita Shepler, owns the Candlestick Cottage Inn on Douglas Street and the Autumn Moon Cottage on Lake Lucerne.

The majority of guests at our lodgings are straight,» she says. «Like most businesses in Eureka Springs, everybody is welcome here regardless of orientation. But I would love to see some nice advertising directed at the gay market in gay travel magazines. And the voice of the gay business community needs to be heard.»

Frank Green, owner of The Woods Resort and Treehouse on Wall Street says he will join the new group. «I think it's a great idea that can benefit the whole town,» he says. «It will be a way for us to provide good information to tourists well before they come to town and allow us to do some advance planning.»

He would like the new group to consider sponsoring a singles weekend and to reschedule August's Diversity Weekend for June, the month when most gay communities across the country celebrate Gay Pride. «I really think it's about time we got something going for the gay business community,» he says.

For more information on the Eureka Springs Gay Business Guild, contact Harold Ellis at (479) 253-2357 or Rob Wagner at (479) 244-6320.

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