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"Be kind. In the end, it always pays."
I work at the Azienda per il Turismo Dolomiti Paganella (Trentino, Italy). I started at the company 4 years ago, mainly as a front desk agent working directly with tourists and supporting them during their stay in Dolomiti Paganella.
As we are a small DMO (less that 20 employees), everyone always works in different areas and tackles more than one project. After one year on the job our Digital Marketing Manager started training me on anything digital marketing-related.
Nowadays my responsibilities include the daily editorial plan (on Facebook, Instagram and, recently, TikTok) and the creation of ads and campaign on said platforms, content creation when it comes to our online blog, our Future Lab project (which was shortlisted at the 2021 X. Awards) and our Reels/TikToks (together with photographers/videographers) and overseeing the 'Trentino Guest App' project for our DMO (a regional project that sees all Trentino's DMO working towards a singular regional app for our guests). Meanwhile I keep learning from our Digital Marketing Manager, taking part in more strategy meetings in order to acquire more responsibilities in the future.
In my spare time I like to try my hand at baking (not all experiments are successful), travelling (who doesn't, in our field?!), drinking wine with friends and skiing (on of the reasons I decided to move back home after living in different cities in Italy and Europe is to have the luxury to sneak a couple of ski runs during my lunch break).
In the last year I've really enjoyed developing our company's strategy when it comes to Reels and TikToks. At the beginning there was some wariness in the digital marketing area in investing in this type of content. Reels, which we started producing last winter, proved immediately very successful for us. The TikTok profile was opened only this summer and has proven to be a bit more difficult and not as successful. But it has been really good to have been given the trust, freedom and support (also an economic one) to experiment on what works and what doesn't for us on this platform. Since not many DMOs, especially smaller ones like us, have started using this platform yet (as far as we are aware) we see the potential in investing in it before it gets flooded by similar accounts.
My career in tourism is barely out of toddler age, so it is difficult to estimate how it has changed.
I'm lucky to work in a DMO that is very young (all emplyess but one are under 50), has invested in young people even in difficult times (stabilising the work contract and hiring 4 people under 30 during the last 2 years) and has a majority of women employees: this means creativity and new ideas have always been encouraged. Our Future Lab project has then brought themes of sustainability and balance in our everyday conversations and actions and I feel more than ever our steering role and responsibility towards our mountain communities.
As for improvements for women (and here I should say, with no shame or fear, that I do call myself a feminist, even during conversations that happen at work), I do feel of course that there is still a double standard and we have to work a little bit harder to be heard and respected sometimes. Just today on the phone, a guest told me that I have a pretty young voice so I must be a pretty young girl that makes all boys' heads turn and he is looking forward to see in person how pretty I look (yuck!). But I do feel I have something to say that my ideas have value and I have been fortunate enough to have my superiors and colleagues recognise that and invest in me and my training. I also feel that qualities that have always been associated with women (kindness and patience, just to name a few) are becoming and will become more important in a post-pandemic world even in the corporate world/work situations.
The tourism industry employs mostly women. Still, leaderships position remain occupied mostly by men. Not only that, but the jobs that the majority of women occupy are essential to the industry, but tend to be the most unstable ones/the ones that offer less stability and less career advancements. The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the discussion on labour shortage in the tourism/hospitality industry. My hope is that these discussions won't dry up when the crisis is over, but that it will lead to a systemic change in the industry. A contract that offers employment stability, more sustainable working hours/a just wage and investments on one's skills will allow women to advance in their fields and find their voice in this industry.
Do not be afraid to apply for the job. Women tend to not apply to jobs they think they don't have all the qualifications for. Men apply anyway. The result is that they get hired just because you took yourself out of the race.
Valentina Tonidandel works at the Azienda per il Turismo Dolomiti Paganella. Her roles include Guest Experience, Digital Marketing and Content Creation. Italian native speaker, she speaks fluent English and German and picked learning Norwegian as her pandemic hobby. She aims to make everyone fall in love with her hometown, while enjoying its ski slopes on her days off.
