Inclusion was a key theme of Day Three at WTM with greater diversity suggested as a way to help widen both recruitment and customer bases. Technology was predicted to become rapidly more important to travel in the next five years with customers using VR for ‘try before you buy experiences. Meanwhile, the final sustainability sessions saw a call for an industry-wide single certification system to avoid ‘greenwashing’.
A United Nations-led pilot project to “put women at the centre of recovery efforts after Covid” has reaped rewards after research showed a higher percentage of women in tourism lost their jobs than men during the pandemic. As a result of the pilot, 175 people in Costa Rica had been trained on gender equality, 124 women employees had received a promotion and 50% of participating businesses now offer maternity leave of 14 weeks.
Marketing experts have called on the travel industry to make its advertising more diverse and inclusive – and employ a broader range of staff.
Carol Hay, Founder of consultancy McKenzie Gayle, said: “Don’t think of the stereotypical – look at the talent, culture and heritage; use that in marketing. There are so many misconceptions and biases about gender and race.”
Tom McLoughlin, Founder of SEO Travel, added: “To make it better, look at your team – build a more diverse team with better insight.”
Amy Skelding, the Senior Partner at Finn Partners, highlighted how Intrepid Travel aims to better represent people of colour, different ages, races and weights with its ethical marketing guide.
A Gen Z influencer singled out Ryanair’s social media channels and Virgin Atlantic’s advertising as some of the best in travel for younger consumers.
Non-binary TikTok creator Perrin Hooper – who has 401,000 followers on TikTok – told an audience at WTM London: “We want stuff like Ryanair – they have smashed their social media and TikTok – a perfect mix of original content and trends.
“I love the new Virgin ad; I feel like a non-binary person, this is an airline where I can present myself however I want and I won’t be judged.”
WTM organisers were challenged to put Equality, Diversion and Inclusion (EDI) further into the spotlight.
In a session looking at how far the industry had come in EDI over recent years, Graeme Jackson, Head of Strategic Partnership, The Travel Foundation, said that, while “there are definitely winds of change blowing,” he said: “This discussion could be on the main stage of WTM on Day One – and should be.
Burnout expert Kelly Swingler urged employees to trust their own instincts and leave toxic workplaces.
The renowned executive coach and author told delegates that there is no single cause of burnout but warned that bullying, bitchiness and other hostile behaviour can create toxic work environments that can lead to stress and breakdowns.
“Every one of us should recognise that we should create happier, healthier workplaces, which stops burnout,” she told delegates in a session on the Future Stage organised by the Association of Women Travel Executives.
Good PR is no longer about being a ‘press release factory’ and bloggers no longer cut it by posing half-naked on the beach, WTM’s PR and Digital Communications Summit heard.
Authenticity is key now, with Kelly Soderlund, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Trip Actions, saying: “People can smell fakeness from a mile away.”
Daniel Andrews, CEO of content marketing agency The Tree, said the way PR companies work with bloggers is changing: “We have to realise that it’s a new generation now and they are creators,” he said. “We have to work more carefully with them. The days of a half-naked man on the beach are gone.”
Holidaymakers have temporarily lost their focus on sustainability in the “desperation for travel” after the pandemic but will rapidly regain it, tour operators have predicted.
Chris Wright, managing director, of Sunvil, said ‘flight shaming’ had previously become an issue among his clients in 2019.
Sonal Patel, Audley Travel’s chief sustainability officer added that “over the last two years clients have been more concerned about health and safety regarding Covid than sustainability.”
However, the panel agreed the issue was climbing to the top of the agenda again.
The travel industry needs a single sustainability certification system to avoid ‘greenwashing’, a WTM London panel agreed.
Around 150 tourism labelling schemes exist in the UK, some of them paid for, the session heard.
Chris Haslam chief travel writer at The Times and Sunday Times suggested an overarching scheme could be run by UNWTO.
Addressing consumer demand for technology and sustainability could keep the travel businesses better able to survive the economic downturn said Euromonitor International in a presentation of its latest research.
Technology is predicted to become rapidly more important to the travel experience with data and analytics continuing to be the technological priority of travel companies surveyed and artificial intelligence and augmented or virtual reality the next in importance.
Interest is particularly high in the Asia Pacific where 48% of consumers said they would use a VR headset to view holiday destinations before deciding to book.
Turning to responsible tourism, Euromonitor pointed out however that there was “a disconnect” between the level of travellers’ desire to travel more sustainably and travel companies’ action in this area.
