Marketing P.E.I. as a gay-friendly destination may not bring more gay tourists to the Island, a survey by UPEI's Tourism Research Centre suggests.

The research centre surveyed close to 2,200 people last summer and fall, and about 105 those people said they were gay. The preliminary report says most of the gay tourists who came to P.E.I. had a good time and would recommend the Island as a destination, and a very small percentage did not.

Bill Kendrick, a board member of the Gay Tourism Association, does not see anything to be concerned about in the those numbers.

"I think if you did a survey of any tourists travelling anywhere, there would always be a small percentage that didn't have as great an experience as they would have liked to have had," said Kendrick.

Kendrick's association and Tourism PEI were hoping the survey would help them figure out how to attract more gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people to the Island, but there were few findings suggesting specific ways to market to GLBT travellers. The survey showed they are interested in beautiful landscapes, good food, history and cultural attractions: the same things that attract other tourists to the Island.

Focusing on those aspects of P.E.I., the report says, would likely attract more GLBT tourists than explicitly branding the Island as gay-friendly. In fact, the survey found some operators could lose business if they market themselves as gay-friendly because it might make some straight people feel uncomfortable.