Women of leadership in tourism
This March, I have dedicated it to commemorating the important role that women play within society and especially within the tourism sector. That is why I would like to share a series of data that we must keep in mind:
Did you know that?…
- Tourism employs between 55% and 70% of women worldwide. In the specific case of Spain it represents 57.8% of the workforce.
- Only 1/3 of them hold positions of responsibility and this is because 51% of women in the Spanish tourism sector have been limited by gender biases.
- In relation to self-employment, the tourism sector worldwide has twice as many women entrepreneurs as other sectors as it offers good opportunities for women with entrepreneurship.
Being aware of this data, it is essential to take them into account in order to further enhance the empowerment of women in this sector. Tourism, in addition to offering important development opportunities and generates a contribution to employment of between 6% and 7% – taking into account both direct and indirect jobs – worldwide. This means that one in twelve people work in the tourism industry.
It is important to note that women employed in the tourism sector work in different professional areas such as maintenance, reservations, customer service, advertising, marketing and finance. The possibility of running your own business or tourist establishment (travel agency, independent hotel and/or marketing consultants among others) gives them the possibility to undertake by fostering female leadership.
With all this and after the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so hard affected the tourism sector, it becomes need to review the current situation of women in tourism. To this end, it is necessary to establish a set of indicators in order to constantly monitor the impact of tourism on women’s lives. One of the challenges is the establishment of a framework for improving tourism policies related to women for the future.
