Earlier this month, IGLTA, the International LGBTQ + Travel Association, along with its nonprofit IGLTA Foundation and Gilead, released a new resource specifically for HIV positive travelers.

The leader, “LGBTQ + Travel and HIV: Navigating the World Safely” provides tips for preparing for your trip as well as practical advice for arrival. Just as many countries make additional considerations for LGBTQ + travelers, many also require special precautions for those traveling with HIV. Sections cover security, visa implications, and travel preparation tips and suggestions for going abroad.

“We wanted to provide an easy-to-understand resource and cover the travel process from start to finish,” said IGLTA President / CEO John Tanzella. “The guide leads HIV-positive travelers through entry requirements, safety, packing medication and staying healthy on the go – complete with a short checklist that will keep you up to date on every trip.”

Tanzella explained this through the philanthropic IGLTA Foundation, the association often works with companies to create free resources and research that will benefit the LGBTQ + travel community.

“As an organization, we are interested in exploring intersectionality within our LGBTQ + community, be it through geography, DEI or, in this case, traveling with HIV / AIDS. This actually took a couple of years to make. It was completed before COVID-19 vaccines were widely available, so we didn’t want to offer a guide to immunocompromised travelers until the travel forecast looked a little better, “he said.

Tanzella said the biggest surprise when researching the information was that there are so many places in the world where HIV and AIDS are still heavily stigmatized, and that those places don’t necessarily coincide with the places that stigmatize being LGBTQ +. And he explained that while there are other resources for travelers with HIV, the aim was to make this guide as comprehensive as possible.

“We wanted our guide to provide practical, actionable advice for all travelers with HIV in addition to details about country-specific travel restrictions. As we are developing a different network than that of HIV and health organizations through our work in tourism, this was an opportunity to expand the reach of this information, ”he said.

An important part of the association’s mission is to provide information and resources to LGBTQ + travelers – and the IGLTA Foundation empowers LGBTQ + travel businesses worldwide through leadership, research, and education – so this guide fits the groups’ roles perfectly. Tanzella said it plans to revise the guide annually to reflect changes in laws and restrictions related to HIV positive travelers and / or travel with HIV medication.

IGLTA currently has more than 30 LGBTQ + travel guides on its website. iglta.org. Most of them are country specific, but they also have guidebooks devoted to travel safety, including one made for transgender travelers. There is also a marriage equality guide linked to Destination Pride to illustrate the rights and protection of LGBTQ + worldwide. Tanzella said they also want to add travel resources for LGBTQ + families in 2022.

IGLTA plans to promote the guide by disseminating it through its global B2B and B2C networks and the association also plans to translate it into Spanish.

You can find the guide with all IGLTA travel guides here: https://www.iglta.org/lgbtq-travel-guides as well as on the iglta.org/research Page.