Winners of the first International Women in Travel and Tourism Forum awards run by social enterprise Women in Travel CIC have been unveiled.
The awards celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.
Contiki was named as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) champion among the eight awards handed out at a ceremony hosted by Expedia in London.
The judges described the operator as a company in which 63% of its leadership are women. It promotes DEI via various initiatives that empower all genders and sexualities.
Among other winners were Sonal Patel, of Audley Travel, as leader within a company and Nina Chaletzos of Luxtripper as woman leader – entrepreneur or founder.
More: Travel staff value allyship but more progress needed, study finds
Women in Travel CIC and IWTTF founder and managing director Alessandra Alonso said: “The IWTTF Awards are all about shining a light on the great work that is taking place within the DEI space in the travel industry.
“I was so excited and proud to come together in this fabulous space at Expedia to recognise and celebrate all of our deserving winners and finalists.
“I encourage people to reach out to them and ask them what they are doing and how they approach their work, people and clients from a DEI perspective, so that together we can learn and work towards creating a more diverse, equal and inclusive travel industry for all.”
Ariane Gorin, president of Expedia for Business, added: “I think we all know that women make in excess of 70% of the travel decisions globally and yet we make up only 12% of leadership roles in travel so there is clearly a huge gap between the people making the purchasing decisions in travel, and the decision makers in companies.
“I am very proud that today, half of our executive leadership team is female, and 39% of our leadership roles are held by women – up from 17% when I joined in 2013.
“We also have 47% of female employees across the board and are just three percentage points away from hitting our target of 50% by 2025, so we have made a lot of efforts in diversity and inclusion.
“We still have a long way to go but I am proud of our progress, and I want to recognise the efforts of our WELL (Women at Expedia Learning and Leading) team which is very active in supporting our female community and allies.”