Equality pays off - presentation of the Gender Equality Champion of the Year Awards

Marking the fourth occasion of the event, the presentation took place of the Gender Equality Champion of the Year Awards at ITB Berlin. In the Accommodation category, the winner was the Amba Yaalu Kandalama resort in Sri Lanka, which employs only women. The award in the Travel & Destination category went to Nomad Africa. The tour operator, which emerged from a South African travel magazine, employs mainly women and takes gender equality into account in its corporate decisions. The special Highly Recommended award went to the two-person team at Halisi Africa Discoveries, a Kenyan tour operator which specifically empowers women in local communities.

High-profile jury

Prof. Stroma Cole, director and founder of the organisation Equality in Tourism, said that in presenting the award the jury of five high-ranking industry insiders wanted to lay down a marker for gender equality and inspire others. She was convinced that sustainability was not possible without equality. Jury member Héctor de Castro, CEO of Regenera Luxury, presented a recent survey showing that only 17 per cent of executives with major Spanish hotel chains were female. To bring about sustainable change, mutual respect, rethinking values and financial incentives were needed, he said.

Role model for others

Rika Jean-Francois, founder of MissionRespo, also spoke of the glass ceiling in the hierarchies of many tourism companies, which often prevented women from advancing to management positions. Role models were important for change, but so was training. Sustainability expert Michelle Janke emphasised that women in leadership roles in the tourism industry had a positive effect on relations with local communities, which ultimately led to more successful business models.

This applied on a large and small scale alike: the Amba Yaalu Kandalama resort not only employs solely women, but also takes the supply chain into account, for example by giving preference to female farmers as suppliers. Nomad Africa involves women's collectives in its operations in order to empower them.