Cristina Figueroa, professor with the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and Antonia Varela, director of the Fundacion Starlight, are the first to confirm their participation as speakers for the upcoming edition of FiturNext, to be held from the 19 to 23 May, within FITUR.
MADRID – FiturNext, the FITUR observatory dedicated to promoting good tourism practises regarding sustainability, will host four conferences dedicated to boosting the role of women in the tourism industry, from the 19 to 23 May.
The programme, to be presented within the upcoming edition of the International Tourism Fair of Madrid (FITUR), will complement the awards ceremony for the winners of the FiturNext 2021 challenge with a series of testimonials, dialogues and presentations that will highlight the need to reflect on gender equality in tourism, an area that is key to industry recovery after the Covid-19 crisis.
Renowned sector professionals who are committed to equality
The event will be attended by renowned professionals and experts in the tourism sector who will talk about their experience and career in developing projects based on seeking equality and women’s empowerment.
Among them are Cristina Figueroa Domecq, professor with the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and author of the book Mujer y alta direccion en el sector turistico (Women and Senior Management in the Tourism Sector) and Antonia Varela, director of the Fundacion Starlight (FiturNext 2020 award), who will talk about various projects that promote equality in the travel industry. The initiative led by Figueroa (WomEnt) consists of a project funded by the European Commission at the University of Surrey (United Kingdom) on how women can advance through entrepreneurship in the tourism sector. Varela is currently developing a program to provide visibility for rural women and another in Pakistan to support women through astrotourism, a ground-breaking project.
Award-winning initiatives for their contribution to gender equality
During the four days, FiturNext will also introduce the three initiatives that won the award for the 2021 edition. The winning projects will be chosen from among the more than 400 that were analysed based on their contribution to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and their capability to be replicated, that is, the possibilities of the practises being reproduced by other sector agents with different resources and in different contexts.
FiturNext 2021 will also be the backdrop for the presentation of the FiturNext 2021 report, that will showcase the keys to facing current challenges regarding gender equality and providing value for tourism.
Lastly, the new FiturNext edition will host talks and conversations with the public on themes such as “What is a cool destination? Reflections on the replicability, equality and local economic development” or “How to generate value at a destination or company through gender equality”.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
