That was the message from Charitable Travel chief executive Melissa Tilling, speaking at TTG’s Fairer Travel Week Diversity Forum.
Tilling revealed to delegates how she is working on a new training platform to help raise awareness and boost the number of transgender allies within the travel sector.
The resource, which Tilling said she hoped would launch in November during World Travel Market in London, would be offered free to staff across the industry.
“I don’t think such a resource focusing on the transgender traveller exists,” she said. “Yes you can go to the Foreign Office advice and certain websites to find about destinations which are welcoming to the community, but as for the level of detail we’re trying to provide, that isn’t currently available.”
Tilling encouraged travel firms looking to improve their service to transgender consumers “not to be afraid of making mistakes", adding: "The biggest mistake you can make is not starting to do something."
Tilling also urged firms to think carefully about their marketing when trying to represent the LGBT+ community.
“There’s too much assumption around LGBT+ travellers and what the needs of the community are,” she cautioned. “Certainly as far as trans – I often refer to it as ‘the forgotten T’. L,G, and B are well catered for by comparison to transgender travellers.”
Tilling said it was down to firms to “take a deliberate strategy” to try and address that disparity.
“Learning is a really important piece on this. You can’t necessarily know what it feels like to be from that community - you’ve got to ask questions, finding out about different experiences and learn.
“You also have to be systematic and look at each sector and ask ‘is my website, my brochure and my marketing approach representative of the community I belong to and the potential customers I want to attract?”
