The annual report of gay and lesbian market research firm Community Marketing, Inc. shows that despite a sluggish economy, the number of gay travellers climbed close to 3% this year.

David Paisley, Senior Research Director for Community Marketing says that “after two years of decreased travel spending within the LGBT community because of the recession, it was encouraging to see an increase in the October 2011 survey.”

“Nearly all destinations in our report saw an increase in LGBT visitors over the previous year, which may indicate pent-up demand for the coming year,” he added.

The report shows that New York is the Number One gay travel destination, topping the survey’s three main categories: actual visits to the destination in the past 12 months; most gay-friendly destination in the world; and personal favorite destination. Las Vegas, San Francisco and London also scored well in all three categories.

Also scoring well were gay vacation resort towns Provincetown, and Palm Springs. In an analysis of data utilizing number of hotel rooms in a destination, these destinations rank at the top. Although Greater Fort Lauderdale did not specifically earn top rankings, nearby Key West joins Provincetown and Palm Springs rounding out the summit.

The survey also reports that the “LGBT economy/budget market is larger than many people assume.

Far more LGBT travelers consider themselves to be ‘economy/budget travelers’ than ‘luxury travelers’ indicating an opportunity for every tier of travel marketers. ‘Budget traveling’ is not about income; it is about consumers spreading their travel funds across as many vacations as possible. Among economy/budget LGBT travelers, only about a third indicated they stay at economy hotels because they are low income. Most indicate they would rather spend their money on more frequent vacations, local attractions or restaurants.”