Women in Tourism: Our Progress So Far
As we prepare for our 2018 AGM, we thought it timely to consider how far we’ve come since Women in Tourism (WIT) was founded in June 2015.
We were delighted to launch Women in Tourism as a membership organisation in March 2017. Since then, as our membership approaches 100 members, we are beginning to spread our geographical influence from the central belt to Fife and Aberdeenshire.
This has been helped by the delivery of more than seven events where we’ve welcomed a wide range of industry leaders to share their stories of leadership, entrepreneurship and development.
We’ve partnered with People 1st, HIT Scotland and The Tourism Society to influence strategic discussions around the future direction of our industry. Through our partnership with the Scottish Tourism Alliance, WIT has engaged with over 800 tourism industry colleagues to identify the burning issues for women across Scottish Tourism.
We’ve actively participated in two International Women’s Days and shared our unique sector research about women in our sector with colleagues across the globe. Our political influence is strong, with recent engagements including the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism, Culture and International Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, who has been extremely supportive.
Supporting the Scottish Government’s Year of Young People 2018, WIT has recruited its first young Board member, Julia MacGregor, who is leading a range of activity during this important year. In response to member feedback, WIT provides mentoring as a membership benefit. With around ten mentors currently available, members can be matched some of our sectors most influential leaders.
Our members come from across the tourism ecosystem – from attractions, transport and accommodation to travel technology and festivals and events, as well as business tourism.
For the last two years, we have also been proud to collaborate with and support the Business Women Scotland Hospitality and Tourism Awards, with our Chair Susan Russell, forming part of the awards judging panel.
With our growing membership and strong industry engagement, we shall continue to grow and develop, to help to drive change for women in tourism. We shall continue to support and mentor, celebrate women’s achievements and listen to our members.
We shall also continue to work together to highlight positive industry role models for young people coming into this industry and those already in the sector, at different stages of their careers, with the key objective of supporting the next generation of tourism leaders.
WIT members are very welcome to join our AGM on Monday 25 June 2018 at 4pm. If you wish to attend, please email info@womenintourism.co.uk for details or tweet us at @WITScotland.
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