IN FOCUS


From left: Pegi Amarteifio, Small Luxury Hotels of


the World; Laura Dove, AllBright; and Alessandra Alonso, Women in Travel CIC


From left: Lexie Shaibu-Lenoir, Queer Weddings UK; consultant Marley Conte; and Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir, Moonlight Experiences


for all”. Speaking on a panel about empowering women in luxury travel and hospitality, she said: “Women make up 51% of the global population; a lot of companies are now 50% female. So if you aren’t working towards including all women through career progression and your planning and strategy, you’re working with half your company.” She added: “If the C-suite doesn’t understand what your workforce is going through, you’re not going to land what you need to implement.” Shelly Voecks, chief people officer at


Scott Dunn, advocated the business case for a diverse and inclusive workforce. Voecks cited a Deloitte study that


suggested diverse teams are 20% more creative and innovative, and research by the World Economic Forum that found more-diverse and inclusive teams make ‘better decisions’ up to 87% of the time. “If you think about Gen Z and millennials, 52% of them say they would leave an employer who didn’t show meaningful progress in this area. That’s a


This is about leadership investing in understanding, and then training and educating


everyone in their organisation


pretty significant number,” she said. “We [the travel sector] have the opportunity to be the standard bearers, more so than other industries, simply due to the people we meet and the different types of cultures we encounter. But more than a philosophical or aspirational reason to do it is the hard data that sits behind all of this in terms of the business case for having a diverse and inclusive workforce.”


Inclusive strategies Other speakers highlighted the benefits to brand and business of being an inclusive travel provider in the luxury sector. Debbie Marshall, managing director


of the Silver Marketing Association, urged delegates not to ignore the lucrative over-55s market, saying: “The older generation are a fantastic bunch of people in their 60s and 70s and 80s who largely are out there having fun. When it comes to travel, and particularly luxury travel, they’re spending money: 60% of the travel budget in the UK is owned by the older generation.”


30 ASPIRE MAY 2024


aspiretravelclub.co.uk


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