A white paper, entitled ‘Women in Tourism and Hospitality: Unlocking the Potential in the Talent Pool’, has been produced by the Hospitality Industry Pipeline (HIP) Coalition, a group of leading industry members led by drinks company Diageo, and was launched at the Women in Tourism and Hospitality Forum in Hong Kong on 5 March, ahead of International Women’s Day. The findings and recommendations of the white paper explore the challenges of talent shortages in the sector and what could be done to ensure talented women get the opportunities they deserve.
“Two thirds of the global hospitality industry workforce is comprised of women and 73 million new travel and tourism jobs will be created by 2022. However, the UN World Tourism Organisation asserts that women in this sector are still underpaid, under-utilized, under-educated, and under-represented. We know gender diverse leadership teams deliver better financial performance for companies. The aim of the Coalition and white paper are to raise awareness of the pressing talent issues facing the hospitality sector and lead the industry to address them through diversity, thereby growing communities and businesses” said Sam Fischer, President Greater China and Asia, Diageo.
Although women make up close to 70% of the workforce in the global hospitality industry, they only hold less than 40% of all managerial and supervisory positions and less than 20% of general management roles.
Professor Tom Baum PhD, Head of Department, Department of Human Resource Management, University of Strathclyde Business School, a research partner for the white paper, commented “The imperative to have women in leadership roles is now mainstream, and many multinational companies and sectors have initiatives and objectives which aim to make this possible. However, the hospitality and tourism industry has not yet succeeded in promoting women in significant numbers into leadership positions.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
