More women in leadership in tourism is no longer a theoretical conversation confined to academic journals or diversity reports. It is a practical, urgent question that continues to shape boardrooms, hiring processes, and career trajectories across the global travel industry.
At a recent panel during ITB Berlin, industry leaders and researchers confronted the issue head on. The session, titled “Courage, Power and Women in Action: Female Leadership in Tourism”, did not drift into slogans. It focused on lived experience, institutional resistance, and the uncomfortable gap between progress on paper and reality inside companies.
The discussion revealed a tension that many women in tourism leadership recognize immediately: visibility without authority, opportunity without structural change, praise without promotion.
Tourism markets itself as progressive and globally connected. It is powered largely by women across operational roles, customer service, marketing, hospitality management, and destination development. Yet when executive positions are examined closely, the picture shifts.
Katrin Rieger, Director of Travel Sales at HanseMerkur Reiseversicherung, has spent nearly two decades in management within tourism. Her reflections were not abstract. She described being repeatedly told, “You are too nice.” The phrase sounds harmless. In practice, it becomes a subtle barrier.
Behind that comment sits an assumption that effective leadership must look dominant, loud, or overtly forceful. Rieger rejected that premise. She argued that influence can operate differently. Leadership, she suggested, does not always require public dominance. It can be strategic, relational, and collaborative, particularly in an industry built on partnerships and coordination.
Her position challenges a long standing bias in corporate culture: the idea that authority must be visible to be legitimate.
The academic framing of this problem came from Lisa-Marie Kuechler, who researched gender-equal leadership in tourism during her Master’s studies at Stralsund University of Applied Sciences.
She referenced Role Congruity Theory, a framework that explains how deeply rooted stereotypes create friction between expectations of femininity and expectations of leadership. Women are socially coded as cooperative and empathetic. Leaders are stereotyped as assertive and decisive. When women lead collaboratively, they risk being perceived as weak. When they lead assertively, they risk being labeled difficult.
This contradiction is not merely psychological. It shapes hiring outcomes, performance reviews, and succession planning.
Kuechler emphasized authenticity as a strategic response. Not authenticity as a buzzword, but as a deliberate redefinition of leadership standards. Instead of asking women to adapt to outdated executive models, companies must expand their understanding of what effective leadership looks like.
Maren Merken, founder of the communications agency merkenschoenberg and a representative of Tourismus Turn, addressed another persistent reality: assertive women often face social penalties.
A man who is decisive may be described as confident. A woman who behaves similarly may be labeled exhausting or complicated. These labels accumulate quietly over time and influence professional mobility.
Merken spoke candidly about moving beyond the need for constant external validation. As her career progressed, recognition became less central to her decision making. What mattered more was clarity of purpose and creating workplace cultures where uncertainty could be acknowledged without being weaponized.
Her perspective signals a shift from survival to structural influence. Women in senior roles are not only navigating bias. They are reshaping workplace norms for those who follow.
The panel did not romanticize the path upward. It offered practical strategies grounded in experience.
Merken encouraged young women to build visibility early. Self marketing remains uncomfortable for many, yet competence alone rarely guarantees recognition. Visibility does not mean exaggeration. It means articulating achievements clearly and stepping forward for responsibility before feeling completely prepared.
Rieger emphasized networks. Informal alliances often determine who hears about opportunities and who is considered for advancement. Building professional relationships from the beginning is not optional. It is infrastructure.
Kuechler shifted responsibility back to companies. Recruitment criteria should focus on gender neutral competencies rather than culturally coded traits. Flexible work models must move from exception to norm. Structural support is not charity. It is strategy.
Research consistently shows that gender diverse leadership teams outperform homogeneous ones in decision making and long term profitability. In tourism, where markets are global and customer bases diverse, leadership that reflects that diversity is commercially rational.
More women in leadership in tourism is not a symbolic goal. It has measurable consequences for innovation, talent retention, and brand credibility.
Tourism businesses operate in complex environments shaped by geopolitical shifts, sustainability pressures, digital transformation, and evolving consumer expectations. Narrow leadership pipelines limit perspective. Broader representation expands problem solving capacity.
When companies fail to address leadership imbalance, they risk losing experienced professionals who see no viable path upward. That loss is expensive. Recruitment costs rise. Institutional knowledge disappears. Morale declines.
Change does not occur through panel discussions alone. It requires measurable targets, transparent promotion criteria, mentorship programs, and accountability at executive level.
The panel at ITB Berlin reflected a broader industry moment. Awareness exists. Research exists. Experienced women are speaking openly about barriers and strategies. What remains inconsistent is implementation.
Cultural narratives around leadership are deeply ingrained. They shift slowly. However, recruitment policies, evaluation frameworks, and succession planning can change more quickly if leadership commits to it.
For young professionals entering tourism, the message is complex but clear. Build networks early. Claim visibility without apology. Develop competence through action rather than waiting for permission. At the same time, push institutions to meet their responsibility.
For companies, the calculation is straightforward. Inclusive leadership is not an image project. It is operational resilience.
More women in leadership in tourism will not materialize through goodwill alone. It will emerge from intentional redesign of how authority is recognized, cultivated, and rewarded.
The industry has the data. It has the talent. What it needs now is structural courage.
