Oh my gosh! Are you as excited as we are for the upcoming Women In Travel Awards?
That might not be possible because the Travel Weekly staff have been literally and figuratively bouncing off the walls in ecstatic anticipation for 5 December.
This fabulous celebration of the travel industry’s most accomplished ladies will be the perfect opportunity to let your hair down, catch up with old friends, sip some bubbles and have a boogie.
And it’s made possible through our many sponsors that have chosen to amplify women in the travel industry via our awards. One of these sponsors is Albatross Tours and we caught up with its managing director Shelley Poten to talk all things women in travel.
“Albatross Tours is proud to support Travel Weekly’s excellent work in promoting female achievement in our industry, to inspire more women to have confidence, strive for leadership roles, and be celebrated for their incredible contribution across our industry at all levels,” Poten told Travel Weekly.
“It’s a wonderful way to shine a light on our high achieving women and share their inspirational stories; ‘You can’t be what you can’t see!’”
And Albatross practices what it preaches! Poten said that the brand values that define ‘The Albatross Way’ ensure that those within the company are treated with empathy, warmth, fairness, trust and respect. This has been instrumental in Albatross’ implementation of its menopause policy, something Poten is quite proud of.
“Despite menopausal women being the fastest growing demographic in the workplace, menopause is still largely unspoken about and treated as taboo in Australia,” she said.
Our policy aims to create a menopause friendly workplace by normalising open and respectful discussion, educating our people, and supporting their individual needs through their differing life stages.”
Alongside initiatives that facilitate and empower women in the workplace, Albatross acknowledges the importance of highlighting individual achievement as a way to make progress. The Women In Travel Awards spotlights women in this way to facilitate their progression into leadership and senior positions in the industry.
“Taking the approach of highlighting individual achievement helps to overcome this ongoing representation inequity women face, and to inspire women at an individual level that they too can both contribute at every level and also be celebrated for high achievement,” Poten said when asked about spotlighting individual achievement.
But Poten acknowledged that women are still under represented in top level positions, despite travel, and the travel agents space particularly, being a female majority industry.
“I am passionate about fostering our incredible female talent in Australia and growing our representation in senior leadership, C level and board roles. I see this as our greatest opportunity for progression, and an opportunity to lead the way in Australia where only 1 in 4 organisations have a gender-balanced leadership team.”
So to support the female entrepreneurs, rising stars, masters of their game or your friend who’s entered the awards, purchase tickets here.
An enormous thank you to Albatross Tours for sponsoring our Women In Travel Awards alongside our other fantastic sponsors below. We can’t wait to see you there!
