The large gap between women and men in leadership in the travel technology industry is shrinking, with a number of women being recruited to leadership roles across the travel industry in recent years, with a notable rise in the airline sector.
In May this year, for example, Ariane Gorin became CEO of the Expedia group. In terms of the aviation sector, Joanna Geraghty took over the reins of JetBlue this year, preceded by Vanessa Hudson, who was hired as CEO at Qantas last year, Marjan Rintel, who was placed at the helm of KLM, and Güliz Öztürk, who became CEO at Pegasus Airlines in 2022.
Efforts are also being made to help raise the profile of women in the field. In August, for example, the Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance launched a roster of speakers to enhance the presence of diverse “voices” at industry events.
“I think we’re on the right track. But I feel it’s a slow march to progress,” said Nina Kleaveland, founder and CEO of Lanyard, who also created the Female Founders in Hospitality group.
New data underscores the change that is taking place, albeit slowly. The results of a July survey conducted by Belvera Partners, a public relations firm representing numerous brands, across the industry, show that 15.6% of leadership members – the CEOs of the top brands and most visible individuals – across the B2B travel technology industry are women.
This figure marks a very small increase compared to a similar survey conducted by the company in 2021, as it continues to strive to strengthen the debate and progress in the area of gender equality.
The group maintains a regularly updated metro-style “map” that includes more than 400 B2B travel technology “stops” or operators, including travel management companies and technology providers for air travel, accommodation distribution, car rentals, experiences and short-term rentals, as well as journalists, lobbying groups and celebrities.
“When we first created the map, it seemed like a light-hearted way to explain our industry, but over time we began to realize that it’s actually a serious process,” said Roman Townsend, managing director of Belvera Partners.
Belvera used her map in conjunction with LinkedIn, which she used to determine gender, to come to the conclusion that 15.6% of leaders in the industry are women. In the 2021 survey, the corresponding figure was 12.4%, meaning there is a level of improvement.
When analysing the industry by sector, Belvera found that lobbying groups had the most female leaders, at 36%, while car rental companies were the tail end of the pack at 10%.
