Digital travel firm Booking.com has been named as the headline sponsor of the Manchester Pride Festival for the second year running, with this year’s edition set to take place from 25 to 28 August.
To celebrate the event, the Dutch company will lead the parade with its very own travel-themed float, which will feature over a hundred Booking.com employees from its new UK headquarters based in Manchester.
The partnership marks an extension to Booking.com’s ongoing ‘Travel Proud’ programme, launched in 2021 to help hospitality providers better understand the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ travellers through free training initiatives.
“We are truly excited to support Manchester Pride again this year. At Booking.com, it’s our mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, and we believe that everyone should be able to experience the world as themselves,” Booking.com senior VP and CMO, Arjan Dijk said.
“Our sponsorship of this important charity and the essential work they do to ensure LGBTQ+ people are free to live and love in a world without prejudice, aligns with our own commitment to enabling truly inclusive travel experiences in even more places around the world.”
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He continued: “While visibility, understanding and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people has come along way in recent years, we know that there is much more to be done to meet the needs to LGBTQ+ travellers and to make welcoming experiences the norm for everyone, no matter who they love or how they identify.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work that Booking.com is doing to raise awareness of the challenges LGBTQ+ travellers face and to ultimately tackle some of the barriers that exist to create an environment where everyone can flourish and thrive, whether they are travelling close to home or on the other side of the world.”
The initiative was launched following Booking.com research of 11,500 LGBTQ+ travellers across 27 countries that found that almost four in five (79%) of respondents said that they must consider their safety and wellbeing when picking destinations (up from 61% last year).
Manchester Pride CEO Mark Fletcher added: “Booking.com is committed to supporting the modern Pride movement and the campaign for greater equality and inclusion for LGBTQ+ people.
“They understand the additional challenges queer people face when travelling both here and around the globe, and are actively working to help make the world more inclusive for our communities.”
