Ladies Touch founder Vivian Perez moved to Los Angeles from New York in 2005, hoping to expand her career in music. “I was already singing professionally. It was a time for change and growth, and I wanted to go to Hollywood,” says Perez.
At the time, L.A.’s lesbian scene didn’t seem on par with New York’s, so in 2016 she founded Ladies Touch to create a space for women’s social events. Almost a decade later, Ladies Touch has started offering group travel to women, quickly building a loyal clientele of queer women, particularly women of colour, but also straight women who like the style of travel Ladies Touch offers: inclusive, upbeat, curious and fun, though not party-focused.
Pink Ticket Travel interviewed Perez about her vision for Ladies Touch and how she creates bubbles of safety for her travellers, even in not-so-queer-friendly destinations like Egypt and Dubai.
About eight years ago, you decided to get into travel. What made you decide to do that?
One of the things we joke about is that, you know, women tend to nest. We go to parties to look for a mate, and once we find our mate, we disappear. But I did see that women were travelling with their partners, as well as on their own. And at the time I didn’t see many faces like mine out in the world, which made me wonder if anybody else was doing this. I didn’t see many options, so I thought this is something I should explore. The whole thing about organizing, whether it’s events or travel, is seeing the end result in your mind and then working backwards to create whatever it is. But with travel, you’re taking people out of the country, to a place where they don’t know what it’s going to be like for them. So it was nerve-racking at the beginning. But some women had been to my events and really trusted me, which made it easier. With every group trip, I learn something new and further hone my skills.
How have your trips evolved as you’ve learned new things?
When I first started, we were doing more boutique villas, really small places. The venues we use now vary in size, larger hotels as well as boutique hotels. I’ve developed so many relationships and work with people who can do things I can’t, so I’m able to provide better services for my clients—it’s not just me doing everything. I always have a partner at each destination who works with me to make sure everything goes smoothly, and that my clients get a local experience.
Who are your travellers?
The women who travel with us range in age from late 30s to about mid-50s, 60s. They’re mostly women of colour, but all sorts of women join us.
How are the expectations of queer women of colour different from other travellers?
Often they expect one thing and get something else—in a good way. I’ve heard conversations from women of colour who feel a certain way about travelling to Europe, expecting to be discriminated against or feel racial tones or things like that. We’ve done several countries in Europe and we’ve not experienced any racial discrimination. The women are like, “Wow, we experience more racism in the United States than we do in the other countries.” I don’t know if that has to do with the fact that we’re going there as quote-unquote tourists. The girls are also starting to open up to different destinations. Africa is a place that a lot of them are starting to become more interested in—a lot of times, they have felt intimidated to go to such far away places. When you’re talking about a 20-hour flight to the other side of the globe, that can freak people out. They’re like, “Hey, I don’t even know if I’ve ever driven that far.” But during our first group trip to Africa last year, a lot of the women were blown away and said things like, “Maybe I should just get out of my bubble and try something new.”
When you’re considering a group trip to a new destination, what are you looking for? What makes you say, “I’m going to take them here”?
I do a lot of polls, asking people for destinations that are on their radar. You know, there’s the vacationer who just wants to sit on a pretty beach and have their Piña Coladas, and there’s the traveller who wants to go to Japan and eat ramen with local Japanese lesbians. I’m always thinking about both those things. I’m also looking at destinations that are queer women–friendly, so my girls can see and connect with other queer women. We had a very successful trip to South Africa for that reason. They were like, “What does a South African woman look like?” Then we connected with a local group that does queer women meetups, and they all connected with the girls. It was like one big old party. Of course, it made it that much easier that everyone was speaking English.
You’ve taken groups of queer women to Egypt and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, countries that have laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity. The UAE, in particular, criminalizes “any male disguised in a female apparel,” which can target trans and gender diverse people.
I didn’t think those places would be possible, but women have an interest and we’ve made some really good relationships with suppliers in those destinations who can create a certain comfort level. There’s also safety in numbers. Trips vary between 15 at a minimum to, usually, 20, 25. It’s a bunch of girls, and there are a couple of butch women among them, so nobody bats an eye. It’s gotten to a point where we’ve created such a safe space that even straight women join us and feel safe.
When you’re negotiating with local tour operators, hotels and restaurants, do you come right out and say it’s for a group of queer women?
Yeah. Even if I might not like their answer, I’d rather be upfront and let them know what the clientele is rather than just showing up, “Hey, surprise!” Especially if we’re doing buyouts [taking over an entire venue], I don’t want them to be surprised. But it depends on the destination. For Egypt and Dubai, our suppliers weren’t saying it’s a group of lesbians, just a group of women. And we’re not coming in parading or waving Pride flags.
What are some of the things you’re looking for that you know your travellers will love?
Our clients like shopping, so they like to be in areas where they can get out and walk. Our women love spas and massages, so when a hotel has those services, they love it. They don’t care as much about fitness centres. They love a nice rooftop with a view of the skyline.
How important is socializing relative to the destination itself?
It’s a 50/50 thing. A lot of my focus is on creating community within our travel. I want our travellers to get to know each other and create bonds. Women have said to us, “Back home I don’t have any friends or people that I can travel with,” so we want that to be a reason people travel with us. I joke that if no one tears up at the end of the trip, it wasn’t a good one. It’s not like we’re just partying from the day we land to the day we leave. We don’t get too many party animals unless it’s a trip based around Pride.
Which destination surprised you the most?
Egypt. I was really nervous about Egypt: I thought, “I gotta be out of my mind taking a group of queer women to Egypt.” But I trusted the supplier, who was like, “We’ll make sure from the moment you land to the moment you take off that you’re in good hands and are well taken care of.” Literally they’ve become like family. We have an amazing egyptologist that we work with who’s become like our sister. She’s a well-travelled person who has no qualms about queer women. We had one incident where one of the girls accidentally slipped and cracked her head. She’s a butch woman and was very nervous about being taken care of by men. But she told me how surprised she was by how gentle the men were who took care of her. Egypt has become one of my favourite destinations to go to.
Ladies Touch’s next three group trips are Cape Town, South Africa (which is sold out for February 24 to March 6, 2025), Japan (which is sold out for April 18 to 25), Peru (May 2 to 9) and Puerto Vallarta (May 21 to 26).
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
