International Women's Day: Celebrating women in tourism

Isanka: I think I'm so lucky to practice my hobby as my job. I love taking guests around my beautiful country, showing them our heritage, nature & culture. Each day is different to the last.


Prue: What I love most about the role is also the most challenging part of it – “sustainability” is an enormous, encompassing concept, which continually evolves and has impacts on every aspect of our working and personal lives. I love learning about all these different facets, it genuinely fascinates me and keeps me motivated - never do I not want to go to work. At the same time, you never quite feel like you can tick anything off your list! Each win creates a series of other tasks, and days, weeks and months can fly by without you taking stock of what you have actually accomplished. You’re always on the run, but I love that.
 

Jae: Whilst things have undoubtedly improved for women during my career, there is no question that we’ve still got a way to go. I have countless examples of times when being a woman has meant I’ve been impacted by bias. Despite having experienced countless sexist moments, looking back I didn’t react to either of these situations the way I wish I had.

 

That’s why helping women to call out inappropriate behaviour is so important. I hope that the things people at work (in three different workplaces) said to me during three pregnancies just wouldn’t come out of their mouths any more. But, if they did, I hope women and allies would speak up. 

Hannah: Travel is so empowering because it gives you so many experiences, seeing how other people live, learning about other cultures, it’s a privilege to travel and it’s definitely shaped my attitude to life. 

 

Travelling with Indira, our first female tour leader in India, gave me such an insight in to the culture of this incredible country, as well as a lesson in how hard work and determination led to her getting her dream job - travel creates these opportunities and inspires me to push for more of them.

Jae: I am lucky enough to have been to lots of interesting places, but I’ve never been to South America – it’s somewhere I’d love to visit. I love Latin music, so I imagine fabulous evenings of dancing with the odd Cuba Libre!

 

Claire: Anywhere! Every place I’ve ever been has been interesting in its own right. I’d love to go back to Pakistan though and see more of the country as I’ve only explored a small part of it and it has left me wanting more. Also top of my Explore wish list though is our Assam & Nagaland tour.

Prue: I take a lot of pride in seeing my colleagues and peers working together on often complex and time consuming projects, tackling issues together and learning. Not one of us can achieve everything alone, so collaboration is really key to success. I also really enjoy it; hearing what others are working on and seeing how we can support one another.


Jae: I was delighted to receive an "Inspiring Women" award from the Association of Women Travel Executives in 2025! Given all of my experiences, I know that I am in a position to be able to empower other women.

 

That’s why I enjoy working as a Leadership Coach – with a special interest in gender equality. Here’s to a time when it’s not a subject we have to talk about, but for now it certainly is.

I read an article which suggested that the world would look like a very different - and hopefully more peaceful - place if half of the globe’s leaders were women. We have absolutely no way of knowing whether that’s true but, given that the scientific evidence is that groups make better decisions when they have a more diverse membership, I think it’s an experiment I’d like to take a chance on. And that’s why breaking the bias, and opening up opportunities to women, and to other under-represented groups, in our society is more important now than ever.