The line has launched a free online image library for use across the travel sector in a bid to “change the face” of industry marketing.
The All-Inclusive Photo Project (AIPP) currently offers around 90 pictures featuring “underrepresented” travellers which are accessible to all travel businesses to help boost the use of more diverse imagery.
Speaking exclusively to TTG, Rzymowska, vice-president and managing director EMEA, said she believed it was “only by galvanising the whole sector and coming together can we really change things”.
“This is the start of the next phase of our journey and we’re inviting the whole of the industry to join us,” she said.
"Travel marketing, even to this day, is still very white, cisgender and straight… it’s mum and dad and two kids, and our customers and global travellers aren’t that.”
Rzymowska said she hoped the campaign would act as a “rallying cry” to agents, fellow cruise lines and wider travel businesses to use more diverse imagery – stressing there was “no competition when it comes to diversity and inclusion”.
The new images feature the work of an award-winning and diverse group photographers including portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz; Giles Duley, an English documentary photographer and disability campaigner who became a triple amputee when injured while working in conflict zones; Naima Green, a black, queer New York-based photographer and Jarrad Seng, an Australian-based photographer, filmmaker of Malaysian-Chinese descent.
The subjects of the photographs include models, musicians, athletes, artists, activists and refugees, with a photographic exhibition set to be held onboard the line’s latest Edge-class ship, Celebrity Beyond, to showcase the campaign.
Rzymowska revealed she would also be writing to “leaders and key decision makers” at Celebrity’s trade partners to ask for their support with the project, describing the “real benefits” of agencies being able to attract new customers by focusing on making their marketing more inclusive.
Celebrity will also use the new image collection across its social and digital channels, PR and events and when messaging its customer database, explained Rzymowska.
“[The project] makes me feel very proud. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be able to be who I am career-wise, let alone be working for an organisation under the leadership of [Celebrity president and chief executive] Lisa Lutoff-Perlo and a team where we’re championing diversity and making such a difference,” Rzymowska added.
She admitted there was “still a lot to do” within her own organisation, describing how Celebrity’s team "feel like we’re still at the tip of what we can achieve".
“So it’s important everybody gets behind what has been created. This isn’t a destination – it’s the start of a journey," Rzymowska added.
