Cruise Planners’ Co-Owner, Vicky Garcia, Renews Vows to Wife at Love is Love Wedding in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative, announced that COO and co-owner, Vicky Garcia, renewed her vows with her wife; part of the “Love is Love” wedding ceremony in Fort Lauderdale this February. For many years, Cruise Planners has supported the LGBT community in many ways including training its large network of home-based franchise owners on selling to the niche market. 

“Participating in the Love is Love wedding made sense as we celebrate legal same-sex weddings in Florida,” Garcia said. “My wife and I have been waiting for this day to get legally married in our home state.”  

Garcia and her partner of more than 12 years, Carol Alexander, got married in New York City in 2013, allowing them to have a legally recognized union. 

“LGBT travelers have been welcomed by the Greater Fort Lauderdale community for some time, and this historic beach wedding is something I never thought I would live to see,” Garcia said. “The excitement surrounding this legal change will create a boom in the same-sex travel and wedding industry across the globe.”

Economic Impact

Across the U.S., nearly 40 states and Washington D.C. recognize same-sex marriage. This creates an opportunity for wedding planners, travel agents and the entire wedding business community to reach out to a blossoming market as the LGBT traveler represents $200 billion in domestic and global travel revenue according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.  

“The economic impact of historic same-sex rulings will affect many facets of the travel and hospitality industry – from restaurants and hotels to wedding planners and cruise lines,” Garcia said. “We know it’s important to educate and train our travel agents to sell all types of travel, so this is just a natural extension of what we are already doing across the company.”   

Traditionally DINKs – Dual-Income No Kids – LGBT couples are more likely to have both partners working resulting in increased disposable income, frequent travel patterns and the freedom to spend more compared to their heterosexual counterparts, which provides a viable marketing opportunity for travel agents. “With more couples tying the knot,” Garcia said, “there will be a surge in revenue from more weddings, celebrations, wedding services and then steps such as family and estate planning.”