Sun, Sand and Ceilings: Women in Tourism and Hospitality Boardrooms

In 2013, Equality in Tourism published its first report on women in the boardrooms of the tourism industry. The report found that in the companies surveyed across all the key sectors of the tourism and hospitality industry, namely hotels, tour operators, professional associations, cruise liners and airlines – the overall average representation of women on company boards was 15.2 percent. However, worldwide, women represent more than half the labour force in tourism employment. To remedy this imbalance and to align the tourism industry with government recommendations for FTSE 100 at the time, the report recommended a minimum target of 25 percent female representation on tourism and hospitality company boards by 2015. Five years on, this report revisits the data to assess the progress.