Greater female representation in management of the industry is vital, argues VFS Global’s Yummi Talwar
The travel industry is witnessing a revival. Although the sector was one of the most adversely impacted by the pandemic, in 10 years’ time travel and tourism will contribute $11.3 trillion in GDP to the world economy and sustain 355 million jobs, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.
That is welcome news, but how many of these jobs will go to women, and how many of these will be in leadership positions?
Currently, women represent 54% of global travel and tourism roles worldwide, but only 20% of managers in the sector are women.
This needs to change for several reasons.
First, greater female representation at management level not only promotes gender diversity but also leads to companies become more productive.
Industry research suggests companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are 25% more likely to report above-average profitability, and both company profits and share performance can be almost 50% higher when women are fairly represented at the top.
Second, women are travelling more and more. Recent research by WeTravel found women account for almost 70% of bookings in 2023 – an increase of more than 10 percentage points since 2019 – meaning women are driving travel purchasing decisions.
As key decision-makers about travel, women should be far more common among the sector’s leadership.
Women are also increasingly travelling solo. To tap into this trend, we need women in positions of power who understand changing consumer habits and can offer relevant and attractive services to grow the sector.
Given this logic, why are there so few women in high positions? The primary reason is unconscious bias. Though legally protected against discrimination in the workplace, women often feel they are less likely to be chosen than a man.
There is a vicious cycle where a lack of female role models in management discourages talented women from applying.
We also need companies to commit to hiring more women in leadership positions.
Yes, we see businesses increasingly looking at addressing gender balance, but not many have addressed the issue of lack of female participation in leading roles. This must change.
Having more women in leadership roles will not only be more just but also drive higher profits.
This is part of a wider trend of under-representation of women in senior positions. Why do women often shy away from applying for leading roles?
Women outnumber men in college – they account for 55% of undergraduates, tend to have higher grades and drop out less frequently than men. Yet as of 2020 women still accounted for only 7.4% of leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies.
If we are to reach parity in the most senior ranks of organisations, we will need more men and women in leadership roles willing to spend time and energy to advise, coach and promote women along their career paths and into the leadership ranks.
Women need to see other women in leadership roles. Also, we need more flexible working and work-from-home options. Women are still more likely to be primary carers and hence need greater flexibility at work.
At VFS Global, we understand the need to address gender equality. Last year, we signed a commitment with UN Women to follow its standards towards Women’s Empowerment. We also signed the British High Commission’s UK in India network Gender Equality Charter in 2021.
But paper commitments are not enough on their own. Every day in the workplace we need to do more. Women make up 57% of our workforce overall, and 27% at the leadership level.
To make sure we have more women in leadership positions, we have committed to having at least 50% participation of women candidates in the hiring process at all levels and half of critical roles in the company to be filled by women upon becoming vacant.
Tourism empowers women. The industry already employs a huge number of women.
But for too long women have not been allowed to fulfill their potential in our sector – at a cost to them, to customers and to the bottom line.
Yummi Talwar is chief operating officer for Europe & the CIS region at visa-facilitation services specialist VFS Global.