The organisation Equality in Tourism researched 78 companies across four of the major sectors of the tourism industry in the UK and found that only 15.8% of board members are women and more than a quarter of the companies have no women on their boards.
LONDON – Equality in Tourism, a new women’s network dedicated to ensuring that women have an equal voice in tourism and an equal share in its benefits, will hold its first public debate on gender and tourism at World Travel Market in London.
Speakers at the meeting, titled “Sun, Sand and Ceilings: Why We Need Women At The Top Of The Tourism Industry”, will include Her Excellency Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, High Commissioner of Jamaica to the United Kingdom, Zainab Ansell, director of Zara Tanzanian Adventures, Dermot Blastland, former managing director of TUI UK & Ireland and trustee of Just A Drop, and Dr Stroma Cole, senior lecturer in international tourism development at the University of the West of England and a director of Equality in Tourism.
The panel will debate why women are woefully under-represented at executive levels of the world’s top tourism companies, in light of the findings of Equality in Tourism’s recent report “Sun, Sand and Ceilings: Women in the Boardroom in the Tourism Industry”.
The organisation researched 78 companies across four of the major sectors of the tourism industry in the UK and found that only 15.8% of board members are women and more than a quarter of the companies have no women on their boards.
Equality in Tourism’s debate reflects the growing interesting in gender and tourism. UNWTO held an event at WTM in 2011 following the release of a joint publication with UN Women titled Global Report on Women in Tourism. In 2012, WTM Speaker’s Corner featured speeches on gender and tourism.
The debate will take place at 3.30pm-4.30pm, Wednesday 6 November, South Gallery 17, World Travel Market, ExCel London.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
