To celebrate International Women’s Day, we thought it fitting to cast our KarryOn spotlight on the ladies in the travel industry who are shaking things up, and ultimately running the travel show.
International Women’s Day, held on 8 March every year, is all about celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women around the world.
And in no other industry is it worth singing their praises out loud than in travel.
Walk into any travel agency, attend any travel industry function, or win a spot on any famil, and you’ll soon notice that women dominate the industry.
Travel companies – from hotel groups, to tour agencies, to airlines – have long embraced their feminine side, capitalising on the power and influence of women in taking their businesses to the next level.
Let’s take a look at how travel companies in Australia are celebrating this special day across the country.
AccorHotels teams across Australia and overseas have shown their support for International Women’s Day by striking a pose for the camera and sharing the image, along with the hashtag #HeForShe (in reference for an international campaign on gender equality) across their social media channels.
Happy #InternationalWomensDay from all of us here at AccorHotels! #HeForShe pic.twitter.com/nWmuLm6yGr
— AccorHotels Aus (@AccorHotelsAus) March 7, 2016
The hotel group have also recently shown their support for Gay Marriage, committed to supporting the LGBTG community in Australia.
As a part of AccorHotel’s #HeForShe goals, the hotel group want to see 35% women holding hotel managerial roles by 2017.
Admirable goals indeed.
But in the case of Contiki, an all-female leadership team actually run the show.
#GirlPower!
Okay, well technically, “it’s not 100% all females,” Katrina Barry, Managing Director of Contiki says.
“I also have three men who report to me but also work across other TTC brands and not exclusively on our youth products. However, their presence also provides diversity within the team.. Being an all-female team of leaders is not something we think about on a day to day basis. We only really noticed when a few people pointed it out.”
Katrina Barry, Managing Director, Contiki
Katrina looks after the Contiki business in Australia, in addition to overseeing Busabout in Australia.
Prior to joining Contiki, Katrina spent three years with BT in senior leadership roles in various direct businesses, digital, marketing and customer experience across 17 brands.
Contiki’s female dominated leadership is a breath of fresh air in an industry where leadership is usually reserved for me.
“It is interesting that although 70-80% of the travel industry employees are female, leadership teams remain largely a male dominated zone,” she adds.
Katrina is joined by another women at the top of her game, Vanessa Stavrou, who is Head of Marketing over at Contiki. Vanessa’s been part of the Contiki family just shy of two years.
And like Katrina, for Vanessa, the fact that she’s part of a female dominated team isn’t really at the forefront of her mind:
“To be honest, I never really think about the fact that I’m part of a female leadership team. I just love that I’m surrounded by a group of people who are smart and passionate about what they do which means we get to smash goals.”
Vanessa Stavrou, Head of Marketing, Contiki.
Katrina Barry and Vanessa Stavrou and also joined by other female superstars in Contiki leadership roles, such as Nathaly Naughton (Head of Sales), Kirsten Bain (Head of Operations), Antoinette Zinoviev (Trade Reservations Manager), Tina McIntosh (General Manager, Busabout).
(L-R) Antoinette Zinoviev, Nathaly Naughton, Katrina Barry, Tina McIntosh, Kirsten Bain and Vanessa Stavrou.
Ladies are also pretty much running the show over at Hawaiian Airlines with the airline recently expanding its local sales to 11 women and one man.
According to Hawaiian Airlines’ Gai Tyrrell, Regional Director of Australia and New Zealand, the airline brought in the new female staff because they “bring a wealth of industry knowledge and high calibre experience to our business in Australia”.
On behalf of KarryOn, I’d like to say happy International Women’s Day to all the ladies who have worked so hard to make the Australian travel industry one of the best in the world.
Thanks for you all your help ladies, and here’s to an even better future to come!
