FITUR WOMAN focuses on promoting the visibility and leadership of women
The new section that incorporates this year the Madrid event brings together civil servants and businesswomen who make a great contribution to the tourism industry
Ministers and various experts have valued the need to promote and make visible the leadership of women in the tourism sector, in FITUR WOMAN, the new section that FITUR incorporates this year in its edition “Special Recovery Tourism” that, organized by IFEMA MADRID, is being held from May 19 to 23.
FITUR WOMAN, a space that has the collaboration of WOMEN LEADING TOURISM – WLT, and that is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) themselves, in terms of contributing to gender equality and female empowerment in the tourism sector ( objective 5), was born with the vocation of offering a meeting point for awareness, debate and dialogue, focused on promoting the role of women in this industry in terms of leadership and sustainability.
Reyes Maroto, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of Spain, highlighted at FITUR WOMAN the importance of promoting the recognition of female leadership and the need for women to break the “glass ceilings” that still exist. “It is important that we create our leadership in politics, business and society; and that we are willing to fight so that our capacities and leadership are recognized ”. According to Maroto, “there is a lack of women leaders in the tourism sector”, so she has been satisfied that FITUR has incorporated this new section.
Claudia Cornejo, Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru, has warned that traditionally “the path of development for men and women has not been the same”, and that the leadership positions occupied by women are fewer. “Women are falling by the wayside and this represents a great loss of productivity and talent”, so it is necessary to “relaunch changes in organizations.”
Rita Marques, Secretary of State for Tourism of Portugal, has advocated “promoting training and diversity to promote the role of women in the tourism sector.” And it has influenced that “we have to go further in public policies and create financial support for companies that promote diversity.”
Promote leadership
Maribel Rodríguez, Senior Vice President of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), explained that “more than 54% of the tourism workforce is female”, but “management representation is low.” In addition, “the pandemic has generated even more difficulties than there were already in this regard.” For this reason, she has encouraged women to take a step forward to get out of this quagmire and also to be part of the recovery. “We need to make women visible in the tourism sector and, in this task, it is important to have the commitment of the public and private sectors.
Rocio Avella and Covandonga Roldán, from Deloitte, have also explained that “the tourism sector has many women working, but few in managerial positions”, so “we have to put the means to change this situation.” In addition, they have pointed out that “women continue to suffer from the wage gap and glass ceilings, so it is important that there be regulatory advances to solve these problems.” In addition, they have ensured that “being a social company and promoting diversity in the organization translates into benefits.”
For her part, Isabel Piñero, VP Grupo Piñero, referred to “how to lead by example” and highlighted the importance of “adapting to the business world, consolidating values and implementing a culture in the company.” While Rebeca Ávila, CSR Director of the Accor Group in Southern Europe, has highlighted the importance of “training to promote the managerial career of women”; and has ensured that “in the complementarity and diversity is the richness.”
