Lord John Bird encouraged travel leaders to back the pledge during TTG’s Diversity and Inclusion Breakfast on Wednesday (18 May).

The coalition was co-founded by former equalities minister Justine Greening and chairman of True Potential in Newcastle David Harrison. The pledge has so far been backed by 550 global businesses and more than 50 universities.

Lord Bird said the principle behind it is to consider prospective employees "as if you were blind" in a bid to remove any prejudices.

"Rather than looking at the candidate, you look at the job and you find the person who will fit the role based on their skills and abilities," he told attendees. 

"[Travel businesses] should look into the Social Mobility Pledge. Even if you don’t sign it, it will awaken you to the situation. Social mobility is the greatest opportunity for us to not write people off. This is what we have to do if we are serious about having a practical democracy."

Bird also encouraged the industry to "be more proactive" in making a change when it comes to social mobility. "If we change things in business, we will change things in society," he said. "Business is the biggest form of social construct for bringing about social change.

"Most people are not prepared to jump into participatory democracy. To democratise your business, it means you have to do some of your own work. Do your homework. Listen to me, listen to people in the government, listen to activists."