"First you step, then you change direction. Don't try to do both at the same time!" implores the instructor at La Marshall, a tango school in a sparsely decorated apartment in the centre of Buenos Aires. But one couple is having trouble taking any steps at all. A paunchy, middle-aged man with a shaved head awkwardly holds his partner - a much younger, thin, dark-skinned man from Australia - while attempting to shepherd him across the floor. Finally, after a few missteps, they decide to switch roles, with the slimmer man taking charge and deftly piloting his partner.
La Marshall, a predominantly same-sex venue, is one of many specialized attractions Buenos Aires offers gay tourists, who have flocked there since Argentina's 2002 currency devaluation made it one of the world's most affordable destinations. Tourism officials reckon that at least a fifth of foreign visitors to the city are homosexuals.
In recent years, Buenos Aires has hosted a gay tourism symposium, a gay football tournament, a gay film festival and the first gay cruise in South American waters; it is now home to a gay hotel, a gay bookstore, and a network of stores providing discounts to customers wielding a "gay-friendly Buenos Aires" card.
The influx of so-called "pink money" has become a pillar of the city's economy. Gay tourists, most of whom are affluent and childless, spend on average around $250 a day on top of their hotel bill.
The city's combination of European architectural elegance and Latin American flair at knock-down prices has attracted tourists of all sexual orientations. But unlike many other Latin American cities, Buenos Aires has established a reputation as being open and tolerant in a region where homophobia remains prevalent. It has been a regional leader in expanding gay rights.
The city council has approved a law authorizing same-sex civil unions, and taken other measures that provide for benefits to pass to surviving partners in such unions and to require hospitals to refer to transgender patients by their chosen rather than legal names. And its array of gay-themed or gay-friendly venues comfortably eclipses the offerings in Latin American capitals.
"How many gay discos are there in Ecuador?" asks Alfredo Ferreyra of Buegay, a tour company. "Here, we speak the same language as our clients."
Some complain that the gay scene in Buenos Aires has become too mainstream. They question how deep the tolerance goes. "I don't know how people would react if you walk too close together with your partner or hold hands on the street," says Urs Jenni, a Swiss guest at the Axel, a "heterofriendly" gay hotel where rooms cost up to $500 a night. The only notable gay element in its futuristic lobby is the silhouette of a man's torso imprinted on a glass barrier.
Others worry that homosexual tourists are no better shielded from the world financial crisis than anyone else. "At this time of year, we had 120 to 150 people a night," says Roxana Gargano, the organizer of La Marshall. "Now we're down to around 80. It's hit us pretty hard."
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