Mayor Huldai Welcomes Tel Aviv’s Selection as „Best City of 2011” on „Best of Gay Cities 2011” Poll, Sponsored by American Airlines
(Communicated by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality Spokesman)
Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai welcomes the selection of Tel Aviv as the „Best City of 2011” in the „Best of Gay Cities 2011” poll, sponsored by American Airlines<www.gaycities.com/best-of-2011/leaderboard>, and said that the city’s gay community constitutes an inseparable part of the city’s social and cultural fabric. „Winning this competition constitutes an additional strengthening of the fact that Tel Aviv-Jaffa is a city that respects all people and allows everyone to live according to his/her own principles. Ours is a city in which everyone can be proud of who they are,” the Mayor said.
The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality invests considerable resources in the gay community, including the Gay Center<gaycenter.org.il/> (which recives approximately NIS 500,000 per annum, since 2008), Gay Pride Week and support for various non-profit associations.
In the past two years, the municipality has worked with the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Tourism Association<www.visit-tlv.com/> and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association<www.gayisrael.org.il/contentItems.php?sectionID=673&parentID=0> to promote gay tourism in the city. Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Council Member Yaniv Waizman noted that, „Last year, approximately 5,000 tourists from the gay community visited Tel Aviv during Gay Pride Week alone. This year, we estimate that this number will double.”
