Women are now in the rough and tumble of the tourism industry beyond the stereotypes. By Chahak Mittal
Have you ever seen a woman guide in India? Many would answer, ‘Not really.’ The Mithila Parker-starrer Chopsticks is the only recent example where we see a woman assisting a group of Chinese tourists across places in the city. However, just as there is a rise in women travellers in the country, travel experts say that women travel aggregators and hospitality sector players have grown too. And not just at the management level or desk jobs, but out on the field too.
Shalini Goyal Bhalla, founder of WomenOfIndia, looks at it in a different light by bringing rural and regional women into the picture. “Why not encourage them too?” She tells us that even the WOI was conceptualised around the same idea. “The idea was to bring women in the public sphere through their own skills and culture. Unless we involve women in environment and make them conscious about it, the things are not going to change. Also, my observations during my travel made me realise how important the role of women is. I questioned, ‘What role can local women play in tourism activities?’ I saw what potential they carry and what they can do if given an opportunity. So I also looked at it as a way of promoting regional cuisines, arts and culture and different dialects that India has through rural women.”
A whole subset of cuisine and culture tourism can be developed around women. Involving them has high tourism potential as the knowledge on mountain, plateau and cultural heritage can promote the idea of sustainable tourism and social enterprise. She says, “They can re-organise the entire tourism industry, flavours of the local cuisines, and culture. Even the women who are skilled in various arts can present their dances and music performances in front of the tourists.” Shalini believes that women would prove to be more courteous in guiding the tourists than men.
One of the biggest reasons that women are not a part of the tourism industry is because of the fear of safety and job security. Experts suggest that companies need to discard the idea of gender-based roles and promise women safety and other job benefits. Women guides are also trained and educated properly on how to react in cases of emergency during a trip. An initiative to provide them tour maps, guidelines and personal safety equipment is also being brought into practice.
Deepti Sheth, vice president and head (Human Resources), SOTC Travel, says, “To provide women with equal opportunities for leadership and entrepreneurship, there are various corporate policies for women employees which are vital to support their continued employment even after going through the three Ms — Marriage, Maternity and Matriculation. There should be work policies that motivate laws and benefits for childcare and maternity, and flexible work hours.”
With the ‘WOW: Women of Will’ initiative, the travel agency is encouraging women to lead groups of 40 and more travellers on various trips. Sheth adds, “It is to motivate and encourage participation of our women workforce to fulfil their dreams and create an opportunity for them to network.”
Ankit Rastogi, head of air and accommodation, Cleartrip, says, “With more women getting increasingly inclined to travel for various reasons, backed with early exposure of various trips and a determination to break the stringent norms, a profession in the travel industry is definitely attracting talent beyond the gender factor. We keep the candidate’s ability, attitude and enthusiasm as our priority, be it for finance, content, design and technology as well as for customer relations like business development, customer service and key account management.”
Mona Cheriyan, president and group head (Human Resources), Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, says, “Over the past few years, the contribution of women in the travel and tourism industry has increased exponentially. We offer our women employees on-the-job training to hone their entrepreneurial skills, and build expertise in behavioural areas, along with their existing domains. With WOW tours, they can even book tours along with fellow women colleagues, across different verticals.”
Even as per a report of 2016, there has been a 38 per cent rise in hiring vacancy for women at travel firms in India.
Shalini, who, along with Dave Mann, founder of WanderTribe, HKV Association head SS Sarna, and NRAI president Rahul Singh, will be seen talking about the emerging role of women in the tourism industry at the India Habitat Centre (on November 8), highlights that there is a new demand for women service professionals. Unlike previous times, when women weren’t allowed travel alone or step out of the houses without a male family member, today, they are being encouraged even by their husbands to take tours with their friends or colleagues.
Travel firms like Girls On The Go Club and SeekSherpa, both of which have also been founded by women, are examples of how ‘women only’ travel groups are encouraging travellers to take trips with complete safety and assurance.
