Rethinking Inclusion in the Global Tourism Industry with Alessandra LoTufo Alonso

Dolores Semeraro interviews Alessandra LoTufo Alonso, founder of Women in Travel CIC and an award-winning thought leader in tourism and travel, a trailblazer on inclusivity and diversity and an expert in gender empowerment. 

On this episode, Alessandra observes: 

Inclusion long before it became a mainstream workplace priority

The risks of backlash against DEI efforts within travel and tourism

The barriers she has witnessed for marginalised women entering or progressing in tourism and how does Women in Travel CIC supports them

What are the greatest opportunities for DEI to become a competitive advantage

How to spot the DEI - version of greenwashing.

To contact Alessandra and become a patron of WITCIC get in touch with the team here

Host of Truth Behind Travel Podcast, Dolores Semeraro is a sought-after international tourism keynote speaker and sustainable tourism marketing professional. 

Dolores actively works in the tourism and travel conference space as a keynote speaker and moderator, gracing the stages of international tourism summits and trade shows. 

As a professional keynote speaker, Dolores’ speaking topics encompass sustainability in tourism, digital marketing and how to identify today’s traveler’s needs through technology and innovation.

5 years ago, Dolores launched her podcast show named ‘Truth Behind Travel Podcast’ where she regularly interviews tourism and travel industry leaders and representatives on how to rebuild the future of travel.

www.doloressemeraro.com

dolores@doloressemeraro.com

Instagram @dolores_semeraro

LinkedIn @dolores.sem

Transcript

Dolores Semeraro: 0:01

Welcome to Truth Behind travel podcast, a platform for tourism, travel and hospitality professionals and enthusiasts to share, learn and unlearn, what we need to create better tourism, protect the environment and become better humans. I'm your host, Dolores Semeraro, and every week, I bring on a podcast the voices of those out there making a difference to learn the hard truth behind the world of travel and tourism, what works and what we can collectively do better. Welcome to Truth Behind travel. 2026 new year, new season. We're dedicating it to exploring and discussing how people travel, why and how we can read between the lines to understand the bigger travel picture. Welcome back to truth behind travel podcast. On today's episode, we celebrate International Women's Day with an interview that feels extra special, not only because of the caliber of the guest I'm about to introduce you to, but because of the 1000s of women's lives My guest has positively impacted over the years. She's the founder of Women in travel, CIC, a UK based award winning social enterprise dedicated to fostering gender inclusion in travel, tourism and hospitality, with her work across the social projects led within the women in travel CIC, she constantly provides employment and enterprising opportunities to the underserved and diverse female talents Through programs supported by industry partners and by reinvesting profits from commercial services, she's an award winning thought leader in tourism and travel, a trailblazer on inclusivity and diversity and an expert when it comes to gender empowerment. Here on tour, behind travel podcast on International Women's Day, welcome Alessandra LoTufo Alonso welcome back to the podcast. Today. We have a very special guest to celebrate the International Women's Day, and I'm very glad to have on the podcast. Finally, after so many months of connections, Alessandra, welcome.

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 2:17

Thank you. Thank you Dolores, and I'm delighted to be here today. Well, we are celebrating on who is listening to the podcast today, on this special day, on International Women's Day, ongoing, I would call them efforts of women in travel, in tourism. Before we dive into the questions that I prepared for you today, I'd like you to give us a little bit of an introduction of your professional journey. You have a very rich one, very diverse. How did you get to where you are today? Well, I started my career in travel and tourism, I would say, by complete chance and coincidence, I was a passionate European. I wanted to go and work for the European Commission, but as I applied to be a stager, a trainee, the only opportunity that materialized was in the tourism division, and that was back in the mid 1990s so I went and found myself in an environment which was probably understaffed and under resourced, as often is the case with travel and tourists. I was given opportunity to do some excellent work, to be a real part of the team, because they couldn't afford to have me idle in the office. And I learned a lot. I met a lot of wonderful people who really encouraged me to continue in travel and tourism, and from there, therefore, I went to the World Travel and Tourism Council, where, under the first president, Jeffrey Libman, I developed my career up to the point of becoming Assistant Director for strategy traveling the world and supporting the work in terms of advocacy and lobby to government for travel and tourism. And then from there, I was actually headhunted to join KPMG, the advisory firm. Fundamentally, I created the Travel and Tourism division in KPMG, UK, and I also went on to develop a European group. KPMG was, at the time, in the early noughties, doing a lot of work in travel and tourists, but wasn't necessarily developing their brands and positioning themselves with the industry. So I went in as the industry expert, and I was doing a lot of work with my colleagues, both internally and externally, to support the industry and really showcase the impact and the power of the industry, and I guess that this is a very important period of my life when it comes to the further evolution of my career, because it is at that point that I really realized that I was often the only senior woman in the room. I never really saw any female counterpart when I would go to the city or to pitch to client with my colleagues, and I really was puzzled about it, knowing, as we know that the majority of the workforce is female. So from there on, I did some research, and KPMG kindly supported me in this endeavor, and eventually launched what was going to then become SHINE and the SHINE awards for women achievement in travel, tourism and hospitality, which led me to leave KPMG in order to support women's progression in travel and tourism, provide those mentoring program the sisterhood and the networks that women were telling me at the time, and I believe they still do today, were not available to them in order to progress and achieve their ambition. So these were the years where the advocacy was really at the very like where the advocacy of your future mission in the travel and tourism industry for women really started. What triggered it is the fact that I was always the only woman in the room that I asked myself, Why, in a sector where, in the UK alone, 55% of the workforce is female, I never seem to find other women in the room where decisions were made. I found that really surprising. I didn't have that awareness previously, although already at the World Travel and Tourism Council, I had experienced loneliness as a senior woman in her early 30s, late 20s, and also I had experienced many challenges for the same reason, but it is A KPMG that I realized that this wasn't right, and that I wanted to understand why women were not visible, why women were not in position of power, and why nobody was talking about it. It was 2003 so it was a long time ago. DNI, as you and I have mentioned before wasn't a word at the time exactly you were talking about inclusion, long before this word, and what it what it really signifies, hits the workspace, and it has become, as everything in the travel and tourism industry, a sort of a buzzword, well, like everything really, that is over utilized in headlines to do, to grab the attention like and also to create conversations that sometimes don't really lead to any solutions, as it's so to speak. So recently, there was you were speaking about a backlash of scaling back the DEI. And what do you think this scaling back means for the industry, and what are the most critical elements that need to observe we need to take into considerations to give you a proper and adequate answer, we have to look at a number of layers, because diversity, equity, inclusion is not just one thing and is not always the same thing for everyone. From where I stand, I think that there are fundamentally two important pillars. One is the ethical and moral argument, which was initially developed, the fact that you know, women's right a human rights, and that even within that, you find that women have different ways to think about it, because women find themselves in different position. There are different layers and intersectionality. So to give you a very simple example, myself, as a white woman born in the West, I am certainly a more privileged that some you know of my colleagues or peers or sisters, however you want to call them, in other parts of the world and geography, who are women, but perhaps are also women of colors, women. Women who experience disabilities, women who perhaps are part of the LGBTQ community. And these rights have been eroding steadily. All you need to do is to look at the report from the United Nations UN Women and so on, and the various agency to see that one in three women will experience a sexual violence in their life. Women's rights organization receive 2% of all funding that goes worldwide, globally to human rights and other organizations. We don't have to even mention things like the Epsteins files and everything that is happening now, but you see very clearly, I think you can't escape observing the fact that when the world is in a economic and political turmoil, women, young girls, minority groups, or minoritized groups, are the one that take the brunt. And yet again, as the United Nations says, women are the key to so much, because in the majority of the cases, they are the educator. And by saying that the they are the key to so much, they are the key to solving many of the world problems, whether it's environment or other aspects such as the economy. Not too long ago, McKinsey was talking about $25 trillion being added to the economy if women contributed fully with entrepreneurship. So, I mean, these are, you know, these are very important numbers. These are very telling stats. So the ethical and the moral argument still stand, is still very important. But because we are in industry, because we are people, you know, from the private sector in particular, I think is first and foremost, important to remind everyone that inclusion is an engine for economic growth, and that's full stop. So if you exclude, you are leaving money on the table. If you in a travel and tourism industry where we are inherently diverse in terms of a product we want to offer, the diversity we want to you know, we actually take pride in our cultural diversity, in our natural diversity, in our cooking diversity. You know, everything that we offer our clients, it's about our USP as destination, as product developers. But then again, we forget that the people in those destination are the host and that our customers are diverse themselves and want to see themselves represented, and will choose those that speak to them, that resonate with them. So this is an argument around the money that is left on the table by not considering the women solo travelers, by not considering LGBTQ and opening up a destination to wider communities by forgetting that accessible travel is massive, and that you know, everyone who travels with a disability generally has one or two people traveling with them. And you know there are organization out there who are better place than me to talk to you about this, but the there are some really big numbers. There are some really important stats that show how it's not just about doing things right. It's about doing things that enable you as a business, and you as an industry, to continue to thrive through economic inclusion as well as social inclusion and equity. So really, we should look at the biggest risk as an economical risk, as a financial risk. Absolutely, I think you know, if the ethical, moral and human rights argument doesn't appeal to you because you think ultimately there is little that you can do about that. There is a lot that you can do on the sort of commercial and business side and and that is proven over and over again, by the studies, by the research, in terms of, you know, companies that perform at their best when there is greater variety, who can bring you know, who bring innovation to the table because of their teams, who, you know, grow in geographies and amongst communities that. That embrace them because of their sort of approach to inclusion, and we know how challenging it is to retain and to find in the first place, but also to retain the best talent in this industry. And we also know how loyalty you know is something that our customer continue to defy. Now, 80% of Generation Z would say to you that as an industry, you have to show you know that you put your money where your mouth is and that you know they will come to you, both as talent and as consumer, if you are doing things right, if you are value driven, if you can give them purpose. And all of that kind of leads and points towards an ESG framework that is supported by a very important enabler, which is DNI, which is diversity and inclusion. Because, at the end of the day, what is diversity and inclusion, if not, you know another way to talk about environmental, social governance that every board will talk about. You know, we are an industry of people. We are led by people. People creates culture. People creates change. If you are not inclusive, it will not happen. You know, even environmental, as I was saying before, if you want to make the difference, if you want to address this huge climate crisis, the answer is educate and support women, you know, because they educate the kids who are ultimately the future generation,

Dolores Semeraro: 16:52

In the the rooms and the conferences and the debates that have happened this Week at ITB in Berlin, amongst the panel that I had the chance to listen to, one conversation struck a chord, and when they were talking about having the new generations that are willing to work in your company, not because they're willing to work in a company, they're willing to work for a cause. In the end, it will attract the talents that believe in that cause, that believe in that purpose, in that mission, and the newest generation. We can't you've been talking about inclusion for many years, and you've been working in the in this, in the ecosystem for many, many years. Although generations have changed. There has been a sort of a societal shift. People that were in the conversation 10-15, years ago are now in the conversation. But there are new people in the conversation nowadays. Be new people with new values, with a generational gap that we need to fill. And so many more people are coming, let's say, to the forefront of of these topics and and the causes that they represent, I want to, I want to go back with you at the the work that you do with women in travel CIC, because you bring so many Women under an umbrella that offers them protection, guidance, purpose, and particularly work that is not just okay. Here is your job. Go for it, and you just send off women unequipped, untrained, unprepared for work life. You don't do that with women in trouble. You actually guide them, you coach them, you offer them solutions that that are suited to the environment they live in, whether they are in London or whether they are in Timbuktu, for example. Can you tell us a little bit about the work that over the years you have done and you have achieved with women in travel?

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 18:57

I mean, we are still not in Timbuktu, but working on it. Our work has evolved. And women in travel, CIC has evolved. So as a social enterprise, first of all, because CIC stands for Community Interest Company and as a social enterprise, we are a company, a commercial company, that reinvest any surplus in the mission, so we don't have shareholders and we don't distribute dividends. If we create any surplus, it goes back into fulfilling the mission. Our mission is fostering a more inclusive travel and tourism industry by connecting, mentoring, training, supporting underserved and diverse female talent to employment and enterprising opportunity in travel, tourism and hospitality. So we started life as a social enterprise, looking at how we could actually bring so much. Invisible talent to an industry, how we could make it visible to an industry that is forever talking about the lack of talent, or the word for talent, or the challenges in finding the right talent, but that was at the same time totally oblivious that so so much invisible talent exist and that could be tapped into to actually bring very much diversity of thinking, but also enthusiasm and commitment and desire to progress, which is What you know, these women, women in our community, display all the time, and so we started to look at how we could do that, particularly because when I first created women in travel, it was 2017 of course, Brexit had just happened In the UK, and we are London based, and so many women were moving away. They were moving away from the industry because they were moving away from the UK, and they were returning to their country and and these movement was then sort of compounded and accelerated by #metoo. In 2017 by #BlackLivesMatter in 2019 and of course, the pandemic in 2020 which, as you probably have heard, was called the she session, because of the number of women who lost their job due to the fact that their job were less protected. They were lower level, lesser pay, and therefore were easier to sort of to get rid of, and and I guess that all of this really gave us this sense of needing to support women to enter the market, to not just gain a seat at the table, but actually understanding that a table exists at which they can sit, and understanding that they can play a role in this industry. Because for one good thing, there are low barriers to entry, and therefore, how could we accelerate that to both address a problem that exists in the industry, but also provide opportunity to people who had the the energy, had the enthusiasm ahead, The talent and the skill, but lack to the access. And I guess that this is a specific if you like, focus in the broader campaign that is fostering inclusion. But because women have historically been the backbone of this industry. It was quite and because of my own lived experience, both at wgtc and KP and G, it was a natural connection for me to try and really progress and support women. The difference between the time i co founded shine and women in trouble is that at the time of shine, I was really looking at supporting women who were already in industry, and they were seeking progression, because once again, we were not seeing that progress, and we were not seeing women becoming CEO or taking part, sort of in the being promoted to the C suite or the layers just before, and what the women were telling me at the time is that they lacked the tools because nobody was actually giving them the opportunity they had the technical training, but they missed the coaching, the mentoring, the networking that was available to the men, and that often that led to a misunderstanding whereby employers would think women are not ambitious just because they couldn't do what the men would do, and the women who did what the men would do inevitably ended up as alpha male, sort of clone queen bee who would have gone to power for dear life, because, you know, and closed doors In a way, instead of opening the floodgates to other women, because they didn't feel that they could do that, because it would take them so much to get to where they are, and the only way to survive was to become one of them that I think has now changed, because the whole ethos of work after the pandemic has changed, and the younger generation are probably watching us thinking, you know, I don't want that. I don't want your life, I think for my boys anyway, and the fact that they are thinking, you know, I want more freedom. I want a different lifestyle. But there are still so many women at entry, you know, at entry level position, who don't have this opportunity, who are in a way underutilized, under, you know, under supported, underserved. And I think these are the women that we really focus on now, because that also gives us the the diversity, the innovation, the diversity of thinking, and in due course, the pipeline that we need for the industry you supporting.

Dolores Semeraro: 25:59

I mean, let's if we were to be ambitious, and if you were to put a number right now, like from the beginning of shine or or women in trouble, give me a number just on top of your head. How many la how many women's lives have you impacted?

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 26:15

1000s, 1000s and 1000s. But is one thing to you know, impact someone's life for an hour, and you know, through a workshop or an event or a mentoring session. That's still important, still valuable, but it is a different story to give people who are at the margin of society, an opportunity to reenter society, to leave their mark on their community, to tell the story and to create economic empowerment through that, which is what we do Now with you know, out tour, guide in Academy program that takes hours. You know you you don't change someone's life in an hour. You may make an impact, indeed, and I don't take anything away from there, but our level of depth is, I believe, quite unmatched in terms of social impact program in this industry, and that's what I wanted to spend some time on them, because you support so many women.

Dolores Semeraro: 27:30

You've supported so many projects and successfully completed them. But who supported you? And actually, have you? Have you felt supported in this journey, specifically in the bit with women in travel, because that's that was quite more challenging to bring in on the scene. As you said, underrepresented groups, minorities, people who didn't really even have a presence in the industry, but they had talent. My first question is, have you felt supported, and whether the answer is yes or no, and what comes with it, I want to I also want to know, what were the barriers that you faced building this, the current work that you, that you put forward with women in travel.

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 28:19

I think the possibly the right question is, to what extent you are supported, because we definitely are supported, and we talk a lot about allyship, and in particular male allyship, which some are skeptical about, but actually it is an extremely important channel for change, because without male allyship, given that men tend to be still in most of the position of power, we are not going to change our life. We are not going to create that inclusion for women and for everyone you know. My the advisory board of women in travel is formed by people who are really great supporter, a believer in in what we do. Nevertheless, the barriers are still out there, and they are not getting any smaller, unfortunately, because of the positions of powers and unfortunately, unfortunately, tourism and travel is one of Those sector that is impacted by an impact so many areas. So political event, economic events, social event, all have a huge bearing on travel and tourism and so for an you know, this is an industry that thrives in peace and. That creates cultural understanding. If there is no peace, there is no understanding, tourism can thrive. So in that sense, the obstacles are huge. At the beginning of my career, the obstacles were, you know, in terms of advocacy really, and creating the business case for inclusion. Once we got to 2022 2023 we felt that the business case was relatively acquired by the industry. I now feel that it's rolling back. I don't think people I feel that people understand the business case, but I feel that the powers out there have made it very easy for people to roll their eyes and look elsewhere. You know, it is a costant grind. It is a constant grind, and the barrier for women are fundamentally systemic. I mean that that is why it is so, so important to continue to work to dismantle and and, you know, there's, there are many voices out there, and we talk about patriarchy and patriarchal systems. They still exist, and they exist and they are fully functioning. We talk about the fact that, you know, still there are so many expectation put on women across the board. And that is not just sort of in some countries. It's global, if you think of the pandemic and the amount of women who left corporate America after the pandemic because of burnt out due to the fact that the expectation was that they would work and look after the kids and do the schooling and the homework and everything else that was going on. So all of that tells you that, unfortunately, barriers still exist, that we are not going to resolve it alone, and that therefore is so, so important to think of inclusion as a really holistic and systemic issue that impacts and relates to us all. Because if we are all included, everyone benefits. When women thrive, society thrive. When women thrive, this industry fries because the host, because the people who welcome your guest, because the you know, those who are, in a way, working with you to to create customer experiences that feel welcoming other women.

Dolores Semeraro: 33:07

That's a conversation we were having right before that. It's if women in the front line are making your customers happy. Well, it's if we look at the customers you're saying that at the end of the day, behind a family that goes on holidays and spends money and decides where to go, there's a woman, there's a woman who decides where to put the money, where to bring the children, where it's valuable, where it's worth it, and takes the it takes all the decisions, whether it's for the family, it's for herself. It's for the parents or a group of girlfriends. At the end of the day, most of the travel decisions and where the money goes, really is decided by women.

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 33:53

Absolutely 80% of the leisure decision are made by women. So you know, you are not just looking at this from the Moral Viewpoint, forget that. I mean, you want those women to choose your destination, your company and your activities because they think it's good for them. It's good for the family. Is good for perhaps for the children or intergenerational and you know, and that translate in money, that translate in money, and is the same for, as I was saying, the other, you know, all other groups and the intersectionality of of all these groups. So whichever way you look at it, whether you look at it from the viewpoint of talent, or whether you look at it from the viewpoint of the consumer, inclusion is a win. Win. Inclusion is better for everyone.

Dolores Semeraro: 34:47

I love that. I want to go back to the project of the tour guides that women in travel is is supporting at the moment and actively promoting and working on. But before we go there.I have a question. Surprise questions actually comes out of the conversation that we just had. And to me, as this week has been full on panel conversations and keynotes and debates at ITB in Berlin, there's been a lot of talk for the sake of talk. Of course, as often this happens in conferences, but also, I see people very cautious about how they talk about sustainability, how they talk about regeneration and ecotourism and and this big axe on everybody's heads, like the fear of greenwashing and how to spot it. So my question to you is, how, what's the equivalent of greenwashing when it comes to dei like and how to spot it? Because the conversation can be quite crude, and we I feel that we are not trained enough in spotting those who put women on a panel discussion just because they have to even the numbers of how many? What's a female presence versus the male presence? You know, and then they go, have to, they have to demonstrate that they are inclusive. So what's the equivalent of greenwashing?

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 36:13

In this case, there are so many ways in which you can, you know, Spot the sign of someone who is just following the trends or trying to ride a wave for social inclusion, for equity and gender inclusion, I would say, first of All, look at, you know, internally, look at the company, look at the composition of their board, look at, obviously, the executive management and leadership you know. Look at how the different groups, women and also intersectionality, are represented. Look at the pipeline, if you can, if you have that access, look at how they recruit, whether you know, they ask and expect broader diversity on their long list, for example. But also, you know, look at very important, their suppliers chain. You know what makes you know who supplies to those companies? How are small and medium sized women led businesses involved? What are the opportunity offered, and then look at their campaign and their marketing. Who are they representing, who are they showcasing through their promotional campaign. I mean, inclusion touches every aspect. And you know, an inclusion lens should be applied to everything that you do in business, because it is not about HR. It's about operational performance. It's about achieving your business objectives through inclusion, through people. So it should be the way we operate. It shouldn't be something that you celebrate on International Women's Day. And in fact, I WD celebration at the moment, it feels like a bit of a joke, because you see social media awash with performative statement, pictures from companies that do nothing about it in reality, all year round. And I'm not just talking for travel and tourism. You know, if you are a company that does this every day, you know, if anything, you want to look at your social impact, you want to look at your impact. You know that's what you should be showcasing. But many company don't have that, and therefore they can't. All they can do is make statement or talk about the fact that one woman is, you know, in a certain position, or they give discount to women because of International Women's Day. And by the way, the whole of March is, you know, women history month. So it's not just a day, but, yeah, it's, there's a lot of that. There's a lot of very superficial, very performative activities around inclusion.

Dolores Semeraro: 39:45

It's almost a a moral imperative to to protect the essence of of what inclusion stands for, to avoid creating that noise that eventually makes people think that is okay. We were talking about it last year. Can we talk about something else

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 40:35

Sustainability is not different from inclusion. So you know, sustainability is economic, environmental and social, so inclusion underpins sustainability as one of the pillars. And that's the other thing that people say, Okay, this is inclusion. This is sustainability. This is something else. No, that isn't like that if you're talking terms of ESG and you know, the framework, or the development goals that were developed by the United Nation that companies subscribe by, you have to look at inclusion, diversity, equity and inclusion as an enabler, because ultimately, without People, nothing can change. You know, you don't resolve environmental issues. You don't resolve sort of the climate crisis without engaging the people, the people who are at the sort of impactful end of that climate crisis, and often they are the women and, you know, the tribes and the indigenous population and the people who actually understand the nature and the place where they live, and they have sort of all these sort of repertoire of knowledge, wisdom and ways to to deal with it that is far more sustainable than you know, people who come in as as external, a stranger, if you like, and so you know, ultimately, for me, inclusion, it's about, you know, making sure that everyone that needs to be at the table has the opportunity to be, not only to be invited to but to listen, to be listened to, some of the some of the barriers are completely anachronistic. Now you know, because even amongst leaders, is increasingly recognized, that better solution come when diversity of thinking, when, as I was saying, as people come together from diverse background and have the chance to put their knowledge and their wisdom to the service of a company or a community or a cause, and this industry is based on people, And you know, you may, as a leader, feel that inclusion is irrelevant to you, because you are someone who is privileged in a position of power. You don't understand what's happening on the ground, perhaps, or you are not close enough to it, but the people in your company still want to belong, still want to be included and, you know, and I'm talking about people, I'm not just talking about women, that is, I think, very short sighted, which unfortunately still happens in many companies. now to avoid to go that way, you know? And I feel that at some point we've bordered that kind of reaction in the general public with sustainability. And it's unfortunate, because then now everybody people are so afraid to be labeled as greenwashing that they avoid talking about sustainability. We don't have to talk about sustainability. We have to practice sustainability same as inclusion.

Dolores Semeraro: 43:52

And I, I do want to believe that, you know, having a little faith in in the new generations, in the conversations that are getting stronger and more hurt, and that there is advocacy also in the choice of the workplace, not just okay. I need to get a job, and this is what I can do, and I have no other choice. I want to think that the more we support the conversation, the more this conversation touches lives, and as I said, we said before, even if it's for one hour or even if it's just an article or a video that they can find online, but that triggers a thought process that then leads to, ultimately to to feel that there are options to find a job for a woman in as you said, people in privileged position, they have a thinking process in place. But people that are not in a privileged position, the people on the ground, the women that are perhaps even living not in their own countries, people that have women that have emigrated for out of necessity. Out of hope, out of tragedy, out of war, for example, these are the women that in the case of the social impact, the social initiative of women, of women in travel you are working with, and you are fostering that that opportunity by making them to guides, even in situations where the most common tourists wouldn't have thought about, you know, having an opportunity to to tour the city differently. What are the aspects of these initiatives that are very dear to you? What are you putting forward?

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 45:37

Yes, so I guess that the tour guide in Academy and thank you for asking me again to elaborate on that, because it's a very, very important program, very dear to my heart, that to guide an academy has and the enterprise in tour guided Academy program has evolved from Our understanding of, you know, of the needs displayed by by the women, and the fact that often the women we support, who are at the most underprivileged or underserved and struggle with so many layers of complexity in their lives, from, you know, having left their country, or sort of surviving domestic abuse, or perhaps, you know, being long term unemployed or mental health challenges which sometimes lead them To not feeling ready for a traditional nine to five workplace, particularly, you know, when you have to now often go back into the office, or you have that kind of situation where there are pressures that can take a toll on your, on your on your well being. And so we developed this product and this project to give women, many women, the mentoring and training support to understand, yes, what the travel and tourism industry can deliver as an employer, but also to regain their confidence, their pride and their self esteem by reclaiming their stories and their heritage. Often, when women come from other countries, they their focus is on becoming fully integrated, you know, in in Britain or wherever they are, and therefore their diverse identity becomes almost divisive to them. So they almost want to forget where they come from in order to feel part of the current sort of the current country or city or community, however, you know, they have some personal stories to tell that feel really genuine, really authentic, really valuable, in order to create a more cohesive community to break down silos and foster intercultural understanding and even peace, even in neighborhood that often don't connect. We have so multiculturalism, so much multiculturalism in our cities, but as tourists, whether we are domestic or international, we often don't get to experience this because it's not ready available. So what we are trying to do is to change that and to create half day tours of city which are otherwise traditional destination, be it London, be it Edinburgh, soon, Manchester, Amsterdam, Berlin, but by providing a completely different multicultural lens, we are actually showcasing the communities that often remain invisible, providing and delivering storytelling that can be seen as quite sort of I want to use the word transformational, even if this is a little bit abused at times, but it is transformational in the sense that even local people have their eyes open to realities that they never took the time to explore or inquire about. So naturally, we foster a curiosity that leads Then wanting to know more and find out and return, perhaps to the area with your family, with your friends, with other visitor and in this way, as I was saying, we begin to create a process of cohesion and integration within communities. You first of all, give someone an opportunity to tell their story, her story, and turn it into a three hours tour that goes into a community, into places that are generally not seen, or they are not seen in the light, through the length and and then, obviously, as a tour guide, she earns. So there is this element, very important element of economic empowerment, which is freedom. But it's also about acquiring, you know, the skills of the confidence and the leadership, and see yourself as someone who can guide and lead a tour, and then it's about, you know, reinvesting in the community, not only feeding and educating your children, but supporting extended families. And you know, by going into businesses that are in the community, giving them also an opportunity to have a voice as well as to earn so our tours are very immersive. Our tours are not about just walking, although they are walking tours. It's about dismantling barriers and giving people the opportunity to smell, to hear, to taste, to, you know, to really become immersed into culture and experiences that otherwise would most of the time, would require a plane journey and a travel somewhere else. Social Impact aside, these experiences are extremely rewarding, extremely enjoyable, and I think they, in a way, take all the current trends around, you know, being local, being unique, being authentic, being personal, and you know, all the all the trends related To the sort of the experience economy.

Dolores Semeraro: 52:21

We talked about, just to wrap up on the podcast conversation today, but we talked about the experience that brought you here, where you are today, the project you are working on right now. Now, I want to ask you, what's next? What do you see ahead? What what are the challenges, if I may say, which is a big word, but also, what do you see? We talk about challenges because you were working in an environment, in an ecosystem that wasn't ready to chew inclusivity and diversity, and over time, that has improved. So instead of talking about what challenges you see I had, what what do you see ahead of your journey, I want to know what are the opportunities that you see ahead? Where do you see your next project being fueled by the passion that you have?

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 53:15

We are turning 10 in 2027 and our strategy, sort of we have a vision. Our vision is really to grow the tour guide in Academy so and the enterprise into guiding Academy program. So actually, I am not looking for another project. I am looking to grow and sustainably develop the tour guide in Academy to give more and more women worldwide opportunity to tell their stories. And you know for that, we need funding. We need support. We need people to come and do our tours. We need people to listen to our social impact and our stories. And of course, a lot of that rest on us, on the way we tell our stories. But it's also about, you know, the industry, keeping inclusion front of mind and really looking at the opportunities, the economic opportunity and growth that comes with with inclusion. So for us, I guess, is more of the same with even greater momentum. Because inclusion is a journey you never quite arrive.

Dolores Semeraro: 54:48

Well, I will put the necessary contact details and informations about the tour guiding Academy and women in travel CIC in the show notes of the podcast, where people listening to this Episode at any given point they can get in touch with Alessandra. And I encourage everybody listening to this episode to do so, whether they are going to London or not, whether them be, whether they want to know more about this initiative and become patrons and become supporters of these social initiatives, because it doesn't just end in when the conversation on the podcast ends, it's something ongoing. It's a it's a team effort, and Alessandra is beheading it in out of the UK. Thank you so much for being on truth behind trial podcast, and it's been an honor to have you on International Women's Day. But also not just today, but any day like that, whoever is listening to the podcast could be listening, you know, in a month time or in a week time, the value that you have shared today, the perspective on what inclusion should mean to everybody, not just as a conversation of the moment, but as As as a pillar of a mindset that we should collectively build for the future generations and for us also living living in today's world. So thank you for doing the work that you do. I'm a huge fan of women in trouble, and I observe the work that you do from afar. I hope we can meet one day and all the best.

Alessandra LoTufo Alonso: 56:20

Thank you so much. It was a great opportunity. And please everyone, feel free to contact us and follow us. And thank you, Dolores,

Dolores Semeraro: 56:30

thank you so much for joining us today on truth behind travel podcast, an episode dedicated to the women in travel, the leaders, the doers, the ones doing the job on the ground, the ones needing a bit of support, or a lot of support. This podcast will always be a space where women could find support, knowledge, inspiration, and perhaps a little bit of motivation not to give up, not to give in, into a system that often doesn't quite get the best out of us. Happy International Women's Day to all our women out there, the ones working in the travel and tourism and hospitality industry, the ones not working in this industry, but still listening to this podcast today, I hope the conversation with Alessandra has left you inspired. Has shared with you that every single idea is valuable. It's worth pursuing, and it could lead you to a life that you feel proud of, and the work that Alessandra is doing with women in travel CIC, it's certainly helping a lot of you out there doing just that. Thank you once again, and I'll see you soon again on the podcast.