World Women Tourism launches Glocal Webinar Series on Accelerating Women in the Tourism Industry

The WWT’s New Webinar Series Covers Women’s Complexities and Upbringings of Working in Diverse Tourism Cultures During COVID-19

SINGAPORE [23 November 2020] – World Women Tourism (WWT), an organization connecting women tourism professionals, is launching a new Glocal Webinar Series (GWS) to help women in the tourism & hospitality industry impacted by COVID-19. The goal of the GWS aims to support women in the tourism industry so that they may better approach the new disruptions that challenge their personal and professional lives. Each session will be country-specific and will talk directly about the issues and challenges for women in their respective regions, therefore combining global and local strategies to create a ‘Glocal’ mission.

“We cannot overstate the disastrous effect of COVID-19 on the global tourism and hospitality business,” said Dr. Catheryn Khoo, a Gender & Tourism Expert and Associate Professor at the Griffith Institute for Tourism. “COVID-19 has made unprecedented disruptions and impacted women’s employment, livelihoods, productivity, performance, and well-being. The world may look different now, but the professional women’s community in our industry has never been more important.”

The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates that more than 100 million jobs will be at risk internationally this year. A third of them will be directly employed in travel and tourism, and 60% will be women. A new term spread throughout the tourism industry, which women deemed a ‘shecession,’ as the job market experienced a reversal of gains in women-employed labor.

In the webinars, tourism academics and practitioners will share insights on the approaches and responses to address the COVID-19 challenges and increase their capabilities and capacities through skills development, education, and training. Women make up more than 54% of the workforce in the global tourism industry, and women are more likely to be entrepreneurs in tourism than in other sectors of the economy.

“Women play a crucial role in the tourism industry in fulfilling essential jobs, in running tourism businesses, and in their roles as decision-makers. We are excited to offer this rich content to women across the world in a creative new venue. We aim to have the GWS travel to 100 locations around the world and reach 10,000 women,” said Dr. Khoo.

The upcoming list of country-specific webinars and dates is as follows:

WWT has planned additional country-specific webinars for 2021, culminating in an ‘Accelerating Women’s Impact in Travel & Tourism Masterclass’ on Jan. 30, 2021.

About World Women Tourism

World Women Tourism connects women tourism professionals for knowledge sharing, capacity building, and collaboration.