When asked to share her insights on the dynamic inroads women have been making in the tourism sector, Wahida Parker, managing director of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company, says one thing is certain: “How far we have come!”

“There’s currently a move towards more women seeking opportunities within the industry, and my take is that it’s a natural fit. Without stereotyping, women have a nurturing quality that can prove a phenomenal advantage in offering tourists an experience that leaves them with a lasting and highly valued memory,” she says.

Research being undertaken, such as the latest Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs, shows a pleasing amount of support for local small and medium enterprises, including the availability of finance, training and development programmes aimed at and designed for women.

However, input from Sabine Lehmann, founder and chairperson of the African Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions and CEO at Curiositas, a specialist attractions and tourism futures consulting company, is that while she has noticed women occupying a large proportion of tourism roles – including senior roles – it is nevertheless surprising that the majority of executive, MD and CEO roles are still filled by men. This shows that more can and should still be done.

“Tourism is an industry in which a diversity of knowledge, race, gender and generational experience is required. So, if you want to offer that diversity of thought and experience to your visitors, it makes sense to include both women and men at all levels of the industry,” she says

Be bold

The ability to lead complex teams is often what gets you through the door at a high-level interview, says Parker. “Instead of specialising in HR or finance, for example, I made the call to equip myself with enough skills and experience over a much broader spectrum, so that I could manage multidisciplinary teams of people. Your qualification will get you halfway there, but the rest of it is about being bold,” she says.

“I changed my direction away from law and set my sights on corporates taking their social responsibility and sustainability issues seriously. In this arena, I found that I could achieve exactly what I had set out to do through the ambit of law, but within the world of business. It’s not impossible, then, to reinvent yourself. And if you can tune into the vibrations that the Mother City has to offer, then you have a very certain career in tourism.”

The CEO of Cape Town Tourism (CTT), Enver Duminy, believes women are leading tourism forward during these challenging times. “CTT has always led this charge,” he says. “When you look at our leadership team over the years, I am the anomaly as a male CEO because my predecessors have all been amazing female leaders on whose shoulders I can stand today.

“When you look at our board over the years, we have had female chairpersons and our board composition is currently predominantly female (with 60 representation), which sets our direction for the recovery of the industry and is steering the tourism ship,” he says.

The Covid-19 pandemic has left many businesses insolvent and many people jobless. Rebuilding the economy with women and people with disabilities in mind is an ideal opportunity to bring about true empowerment.

According to Parker, the human element within tourism makes it the perfect industry in which to make a career investment, as it is likely to be resilient against the technological changes taking place within the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

“As our society evolves, we are seeing many jobs just disappearing. But the one thing we’re always going to need is people to showcase our beautiful city – robotics cannot take over the interpersonal, face-to-face human element within tourism that has so much power to serve and bring pleasure,” says Parker

“When more women are bold enough to step up to the plate and take risks – such as in developing and marketing local products and services that provide much-needed job opportunities for others – we will progress and thrive as we should.”