The global value of the LGBTQ+ travel market is valued at more than $211 billion, according to research by the consulting firm Out Now.
As the market for LGBTQ+ travelers continues to grow, safety in certain countries ranks as a top concern among the LGBTQ+ community.
That’s where GeoSure, a technology company located in the United States, is filling the gap.
Its team of developers has created a platform known that gives LGBTQ+ travelers’ real-time safety ratings for more than 40,000 neighborhoods worldwide.
“Safety is central to travel and when you can promote it, it takes away the anxiety,” GeoSure CEO Michael Becker told the South China Morning Star. “We want people to be more confident and inspired about traveling to any part of the world. We want to encourage travel in an informed, engaged and empowered way.”
The app works by allowing visitors to rate their personal safety across five vital categories and one overall safety score.
GeoSure ranks each neighborhood from one to 100. In general, the lower the score means the safer the area.
According to GeoSure analysts, the following neighborhoods are the safest for LGBTQ travelers:
- The Castro district in San Francisco (GeoSure Score: 17)
- Berlin’s Schöneberg neighborhood (GeoSure Score: 24)
- Amsterdam’s Centrum neighborhood (GeoSure Score: 27)
- Barcelona’s Eixample neighborhood (GeoSure Score: 30)
- Tel Aviv’s City Center / Florentin neighborhood (GeoSure Score: 31)
“We wanted to provide very localized information, go beyond the country level to the neighborhood level,” Becker, stated while citing San Francisco as an example. “There is a big difference between the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, and Union Square areas. They are all different neighborhoods that have different safety complexes and that is what we measure.”
Scores are generated through machine learning, artificial intelligence, and analysis of data from thousands of sources, including Interpol, the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and the World Bank; and are updated in real-time to reflect the current environment in each neighborhood.