An AWTE spokesperson confirmed its board had voted unanimously to withdraw from the conference, after “many years of support”, and regularly hosting the conference’s welcome drinks.
“The AWTE board believes that the ITT (Institute of Travel & Tourism) values are no longer in-line with the values held by the AWTE board and its members, with the male-heavy/non-diverse speaker panel for this year’s conference in June,” said the organisation in a statement.
Sarah Clayton-Turner, chair, said: “The AWTE feel that we have no choice but to distance ourselves from an organisation that isn’t aligned with what we are trying to achieve, or indeed the diversity balance.
“The AWTE engages openly with male colleagues and embraces male members.
“The stance the ITT is taking is not in line with our values. We hope that by making a stance against the direction the ITT appears to be taking, the industry also listens.
“We have been working collaboratively with other organisations with regards to their gender and diversity imbalance, who have embraced the constructive feedback we have provided, and as a result we are now working to support them further.”
ITT chair Steven Freudmann said: “ITT has always been totally committed to diversity, so we are disappointed by the statements made by AWTE.
“The speakers at all ITT events are chosen entirely on merit and we have a number of wonderful women speaking at this year’s conference, not least, leading judge Jo Delahunty, who has been a tireless campaigner for women’s rights.
“Last year our keynote speaker was the Shadow Minister for Women and Equality, Dawn Butler MP.”
