Women in Travel announces autumn partnership with WTM London to promote ally-ship and foster greater diversity in the travel industry

Saturday, August 29, 2020

Women in Travel (CIC), the social enterprise dedicated to empowering women through employability and entrepreneurship in the travel industry, has announced it will partner with World Travel Market (WTM) London to host a series of webinars on race, allyship, risk and diversity in the travel industry.

BAME Women in Travel’s first virtual panel in partnership with WTM London, will be held on 10th September 2020 at 2pm BST and will focus on the concept of allyship as the driving force for diversity and inclusion in the travel and tourism industry. Sitting on the panel will be:

Uwern Jong, Editor, Eulanda Osagiede, Founder of Hey! Dip Your Toes In

Alex Temblador, Writer and Award-Winning Author

Roberto Balasco, Direct Sales Manager for Celebrity Cruises

Bex Shapiro, Senior Editorial Manager at Intrepid Travel

The panel will be hosted by Executive Director of BAME Women In Travel, Jamie-Lee Abtar, and will showcase industry insiders in order to get to the core of addressing racial equality as a social, moral and business issue through the lens of fostering allyship in the workplace. The panel will cover how employers can cultivate a sense of belonging for employees and will provide practical examples from the travel industry. The session will also be drawing on BAME Women in Travel’s work in assisting black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women in the travel and tourism industry to fulfil their economic and individual potential through customised training and mentoring.

Women in Travel will also host two virtual webinars during the first ever WTM Virtual event in November. The first session will see Women in Travel unpick the concept of risk by looking through the lens of diversity. The webinar led by Women in Travel Founder Alessandra Alonso, will focus on how the perception of risk is changing. During the webinar the expert panel of speakers will discuss the risk related to travel safety in light of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. The second virtual webinar hosted by BAME Women in Travel will uncover racial risk and during WTM Virtual, Women in Travel will also offer live mentoring sessions to foster support for women and help develop their entrepreneurial and employment goals and perspectives.

Speaking about BAME Women in Travel’s involvement with WTM London, Jamie-Lee Abtar, Executive Director, said: “Allyship is the driving force for encouraging diversity and inclusion in the travel and tourism industry, so working closely with WTM London to promote this offers a fantastic opportunity for BAME Women in Travel to publicly foster greater inclusion for the black, Asian, and minority ethnic community in this sector.”

Commenting on the partnership with WTM London, Alessandra Alonso, the Founder of Women in Travel (CIC) added: “Through teaming up with WTM London, a formidable travel industry ally, Women in Travel aims to empower women by educating both men and women across the industry of the importance of acting as an ally and promoting allyship in order to drive change, and to ensure that travel organisations attract, recruit, retain and develop BAME and diverse talent.”

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