A new dawn for 'Women in Tourism'
Today we got the opportunity to do something special. The most exciting PR campaigns are the ones that resonate with you. As a woman, our PR campaign to bring awareness to the women in the tourism industry whose contributions often go unnoticed, was especially important.
Under the global theme from the International Women's Day organization, 'Break the Bias', we reviewed the main pillars for engendering equality in the workplace. Biases, even the subconscious ones like describing women as 'aggressive' for speaking up while describing men as 'good leaders' for the same behaviour, exist everywhere. What's one of the ways to break these biases? Celebrating the achievements of women - bringing out the positivity!
The challenge
Tourism is a female-dominated industry worldwide, and the same holds true for Barbados. Representing the country's main GDP earner, the women who contribute to this local sector carry the weight of the economy. However, a number of the essential roles in the tourism sector often go unnoticed. We asked ourselves, how do we move past the usual Hotel General Managers or restaurant CEOs, to unearth the inspiring, untold stories that resonate with so many of us? And once we find those stories, how do we tell them?
The campaign
This year, we set out to celebrate these achievements with the creation of a new campaign ‘Women in Tourism’ to spotlight the thousands of outstanding ‘SHeroes’ whose contributions to the industry make Barbados one of the most renowned destinations in the world. Without them, we would not see over 1.2 million visitors retreating to our shores every year to experience holidays filled with adventure, warmth and relaxation.
Going forward, each Women’s Day we will spotlight the ‘unsung SHeroes’ Barbados nominates, to bring awareness to those stories that need to be told – the stories that make the destination unique. For the first celebration this year, we spotlighted four women who make up the backbone of the tourism industry. These women have gone above and beyond in their fields, and their commitment inspires others daily.
We reached out to the industries directly and indirectly connected to the tourism sector to have them nominate their unsung SHeroes whose stories inspire the women in their teams. In the end, the selection panel chose four stories that represent the heart and soul of Bajan hospitality and commitment to excellence.
These women and their stories were featured in the local newspaper and on social media. As a special treat, Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Sen. the Hon. Lisa Cummins, surprised the women at their workplaces with flowers and staycations for two to celebrate their contributions.
The results
Feature ad in print
Increased social media engagement
Feature story on national TV
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