It's Like Disney … You Have to Find Them a Fantasy: Latino Sexual Minority Men at the Intersection of Tourism, Sex, Drug Use, and HIV in Miami-South Beach.

This ethnographic study examined multi-level vulnerabilities and social factors contributing to HIV/AIDS and methamphetamine (meth) use among Latinx Sexual Minority Men (Latinx SMM) working in the tourism sector of South Beach. Guided by Padilla's Ecological multi-level conceptual framework of tourism areas, we aimed to contribute to strategies that address the parallel epidemics of HIV/AIDS and meth use in tourism areas. In this high-priority region, we approached the synergic relations of meth use and HIV, understanding how it is influenced by the Miami historical tourism context and the social ecology of Florida's South Beach. Using qualitative ethnographic methods and a systematic exploratory research design, this project examined the connection between the social ecology of tourism areas with meth use and HIV among Latinx SMM. We utilized ethnographic observation and in-depth qualitative semi-structured interviews with a theoretical sample of 36 US-born internal migrant and immigrant Latinx SMM working in the South Beach tourism sector. Findings elucidate how the context of tourism work, the use of geo-social networking applications, and the widespread availability of meth synergistically amplified HIV risk. Geo-social networking applications provide new digital environments that facilitate informal work in the tourism industry and the engagement of men in sexualized drug use. Results will guide future multi-level approaches to optimize HIV/AIDS prevention in regions like South Florida, where tourism ecologies have important consequences for the intertwining epidemics of meth and HIV among Latinx SMM.