Developing and Communicating Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategies

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During the talk, David Meany, Director Partner Marketing of The Travel Corporation, presents their strategy for developing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), giving us an insight on how these can be applied in our strategies.

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Developing and Communicating Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategies

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During the talk, David Meany, Director Partner Marketing of The Travel Corporation, presents their strategy for developing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), giving us an insight on how these can be applied in our strategies.

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Main Takeaways:

• Implementing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategies can help create better work environments, but also opens the door to communicate our values and attract new visitors by representing the underrepresented.
• DEI marketing strategies can serve as an attempt to solve problems in the industry that concern staff, management, industry offerings and travellers.
• Developing experiences around the pillars of a DEI strategy can help market our services and attract wider audiences that might feel underrepresented.

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David started by defining the DEI terminologies as:

1. Diversity - similarities and differences that shape our people, nationality, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status
2. Equity - providing equal opportunities for everyone by seeing differences between people. Equity differs from equality which ignores the differences of individuals.
3. Inclusion - building a culture that actively encourages participation of all people and varied workforces.

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He reflected on SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure - as an initiative to establish a framework for DEI to address issues identified within The Travel Corporation. The strategy is a five-year action plan focused on 3 categories and 11 goals as seen below:

1. ‍The people and culture to increase target recruitment, cultivate and support work environments and achieve more diverse executive leadership.
2. ‍Experiences to create safe environments for all, support underrepresented businesses and deliver DEI training schemes ‍
3. Marketing to identify new audiences, grow partnerships, and represent partnerships in marketing plans.

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David reflected on several current issues concerning DEI that require attention, namely:

• Lack of diversity, specifically at senior levels.
• Further training for service teams.

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Accordingly, The DEI strategy at The Travel Corporation aims to support underrepresented businesses and present diversity in marketing strategies as a priority.

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The 'Pathways Project' respectively, intends to recruit and train underrepresented individuals to pursue careers in travel, for example, tour guides roles from diverse cultural heritage backgrounds. Providing a place to work and thrive and reassuring guests from different backgrounds that they are welcome is the core of their DEI strategy. The ‘Journey Along Civil Rights Trail’ is another example focused on diverse product development. The experience takes the visitor on a trail of experiences of the civil rights movement in America narrated by the locals.

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Additionally, the DEI strategy aims to articulate the Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity message engagingly. Hence, the Travel Corporation has partnered with the US Travel brands and the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association to make travel inclusive to broader social demographics and ensure different communities travel under their terms. The 'Get your Pride on in 2022 with Contiki', part of the DEI strategy, aimed to celebrate LGBTQ+ history by hosting pride events across European cities and reaching new audiences.

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