Senior executives and international academics will gather in Singapore for the inaugural 'Women in Hospitality and Tourism in Asia' Conference, organised by Diageo, the world's leading premium drinks company.
The conference, titled 'Women in Hospitality and Tourism in Asia', is held in partnership with Hilton Worldwide and with knowledge partner, Singapore Committee for UN Women. It will take place on March 7, just before International Women's Day (March 8).
The travel and tourism industry will create an estimated 73 million jobs over the next decade and two-thirds of those jobs will be in Asia. As many of these jobs will be filled by women, this makes the industry a key contributor to women's empowerment. The one day conference will address the opportunities surrounding women's employment in the hospitality and tourism industry and the role that the industry can play in attracting, developing, protecting and promoting them.
Professor Tom Baum from Strathclyde Business School's Human Resource Management department, will share his findings and recommendations on the roles that women play within the industry, based on his research for the International Labour Organisation on "International Perspectives on Women and Work in Hotels, Catering and Tourism".
Representatives from Hilton Worldwide, Banyan Tree, Accor, and others will be attending the conference, while three high profile executives from Laureate Hospitality Education (LHE) – Judy Hou, CEO, Glion Institute of Higher Education, Emily Williams Knight, President, Kendall College and Sonia Tatar, Director General/CEO, Les Roches Worldwide – will form a panel on higher education in the hospitality sector. LHE is a member of the Laureate International Universities network, which is made up of more than 70 accredited campus-based and online institutions of higher educations, serving more than 780,000 students in 29 countries.
Tim Bishop of CARE International, a leading humanitarian organisation, will share his views on gender equity and diversity in the workplace. The session is expected to showcase initiatives which aim to educate and empower women in the industry, through a combination of skills training and increased awareness of workplace rights and safety.
Other notable speakers include Claire Chang, Managing Director of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, Christine Rumble, Vice President of Learning and Development, Accor, Su-Mei Thompson, CEO of The Women's Foundation among others.