Three quarters (76%) of respondents “highly value” the benefits of allyship – but a quarter (24%) felt that they’d never had an ally, according to a new travel and tourism study.
The insights come from social enterprise Women in Travel CIC and were unveiled at the International Women in Travel and Tourism Forum in London on Thursday (June 22).
The findings were gained via a survey of 102 respondents and two focus groups comprising 12 people.
As many as one in five (20%) respondents felt that allyship was not encouraged at all within their organisation.
Allyship was predominantly considered to be mentoring (52%), recognising work and achievements (44%), recommending for a new opportunity (37%) and amplifying voices and ideas (29%).
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The most popular words to describe a good ally were “understanding”, “supportive” and “empathetic” as well as more active descriptions such as “advocate”, “championing” and “mentor”.
Respondents were asked what resources would make them better allies, with 50% saying interactive workshops and training, 21% saying events and meet-ups, and 19% saying safe conversations to explore allyship.
Alessandra Alonso, founder and managing director of Women in Travel CIC, said: “Our Male Allyship Network has grown significantly year on year since we launched it in May 2021, and we are pleased to welcome some of the most influential leaders in the travel and tourism sector.
“Through the network, we have seen incredible, positive change for both the men and women+ that are taking part, so we know that it works, but we wanted to take a deeper dive into the perception of allyship, the value that is placed on it and, crucially, how we can do it better.
“It is clear from the feedback that allyship is appreciated and impactful, but we need to share and promote it to get more people involved, and amplify impact.
“This is just the start of our research into allyship, recognising it is a relatively small sample size.
“However, we will apply the learnings in our own network, and in the training we give to companies we work with, to improve the understanding and application of allyship in the workplace.
“In supporting each other to achieve our goals, we uplift everyone, bringing about more productivity, innovation and change.”