New initiative to help Bame women progress in travel

The social enterprise is seeking companies for BAME Women in Travel’s Corporate Partnership scheme. Each will be guided in how to increase BAME inclusion as well as the number of BAME employees.

Corporate Partners will be encourage to accomplish four key goals:

*Setting targets to increase the number of BAME staff.

*Breaking the BAME “glass ceiling” by boosting the profile of existing industry employees.

*Raising the profile of existing BAME Women in Travel through ‘Breakthrough to Excellence’ events.

*Establishing best practice guidelines and supporting cross-sector Women in Travel networks and interest groups to focus on issues such as ethnicity pay gaps and talent pipelines.

In addition, there will be educational Lunch and Learn sessions and a quarterly e-newsletter.

Each Corporate Partner will be encouraged to display a BAME Women in Travel Supporter logo on their website and in other communications.

The three-year plan is led by BAME Women in Travel’s Executive Director Jamie-Lee Abtar, whose experience includes 10 years in the travel sector.

She said: "The Black Lives Matter movement has shone a global spotlight on racial injustice and leaders in organisations are now being asked to step up and commit to racial and social justice and equality in their companies.

“For BAME Women in Travel like myself, it’s not about tokenism, but about being given a fair and equal opportunity because we are talented, smart and capable of driving the growth and success of the UK travel industry.”

Alessandra Alonso, the Founder of Women in Travel added: “Our new Corporate Partnerships allow travel brands to collaborate and address shared challenges, with the aim to refocus energy and commitment in UK workforces to drive change and ensure that travel businesses attract, recruit, retain and develop BAME talent.”