The LGBTQ+ dedicated international travel trade event, which debuted in London this year, will take place from June 18-20 2019 and will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

It will bring together travel suppliers, buyers and lifestyle brands targeting the LGBTQ+ global community with UK agents invited to apply for hosted buyer places, while exhibitors will comprise 45% from the US, 45% Europeans and 10% Latin Americas and the rest of the world.

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, the first openly gay Prince in the world and face of the #FreeGayIndia movement, will headline the event.

Proud Experiences, part of the Reed Travel Exhibitions portfolio, said it was also keen to focus on the centennial generation (those born in 1997 onwards), which it highlighted are “driving a transformational demographic shift that is set to change the economy as we know it”.

Some 31% of centennials identify as LGBTQ+ compared with 20% of millennials, making centennials the most “tolerant and fluid generation so far”. It added that as centennials start entering the workforce, the $200 billion estimated to be the annual spending power of the LGBTQ+ in travel alone (according to research from the UNWTO) will only increase.

Reed Travel Exhibitions’ Simon Mayle, event director of Proud Experiences, said: “As the world opens up to increasing numbers and diversity of travellers, so too grows the need to promote understanding, increase acceptance and advance equality.

This event is a key business opportunity as research shows gay travellers are ranked among the most high-spending audiences, the majority favour the mid to high end luxury experiences, and they are also frequent travellers.”