Member Article

Women in Travel launches its social initiative

The popular initiative for women in the industry is now a registered social enterprise [Community Interest Company CIC]

The Women in Travel initiative officially announces its status as a social enterprise to support women in the sector internationally.

As a social enterprise, Women in Travel is now a limited company that reinvests its profit in a big social aim: to provide communities in key travel and tourism destinations (such as the UK, Middle East, Africa and Latin America) with a sustainable livelihood by enabling women to become economically independent through entrepreneurship and a thriving career in this industry.

By engaging with Women in Travel, businesses in the sector will be able to address current issues including diversity and talent, employee engagement, innovation and competitiveness while supporting their female employees or women who want to enter the industry. This will be done by:

• Working in partnership with industry, governments and other interested parties, empower women to set up and grow their own travel and tourism business or prepare for work in the industry by undertaking projects aimed at reducing common barriers (such as access to funding) and acquiring practical skills
• Supporting women and diversity initiatives within travel and tourism businesses through networks, workshop, mentoring and related activities
• Providing women internationally with a platform to meet, learn from each other and feel inspired to progress their career
• Continuing to expand its presence at the world’s premier B2B travel fair, World Travel Market (WTM), in Dubai (April) and London (November)
• Aiming to expand its presence in future to include WTM Africa (Cape Town) and Latin America (Sao Paulo)

Five industry figures have committed to sit on the Women in Travel Board:

• Alessandra Alonso, Founder of Women in Travel
• James Brooke, Managing Director of Rooster PR
• Natalia Cohen, Speaker and Travel Expert
• Christina Lawford, Managing Director at DiamondAir International
• Carol Hay, Director of Marketing (UK and Europe) at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation

Alessandra Alonso, Founder of Women in Travel CIC said: “Over the last decade and a half I have worked tirelessly to support women in travel, tourism and hospitality – it’s the sector I started my career in many years ago and one I’m still heavily involved in today. This great industry provides the perfect arena to address the specific challenge of women’s economic empowerment and, in return, provide businesses with a way to give back AND address current issues including talent management, innovation and employee engagement.”

James Brooke, Managing Director at Rooster, said: “Having supported Women in Travel in 2016, I’m proud to be named as a member of the Board. The travel sector is made up of a high percentage of women so the work of this initiative – helping them meet their full potential by learning from entrepreneurship, mentoring and upskilling – is so important.”

The Women in Travel initiative, which was launched by Alessandra Alonso in 2014, aims to engage with, reach out to travel and tourism businesses that believe they have a responsibility to women in the industry.

For more information, please visit http://womenintravelcic.com/ or joined Women in Travel’s LinkedIn group or watch this video with Alessandra Alonso and Natalia Cohen discussing how women can be bold for change.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mel Hobson .