Just 15.6% of travel tech leaders are female, report finds

Research conducted on travel tech companies within PR firm's ecosystem

An analysis of CEOs of the top companies and most visible individuals in the B2B travel technology space has shown that only 15.6% of these are female.

This research, carried out in July, by B2B travel tech public relations agency Belvera Partners, basing the companies and individuals selected on its Belvera B2B Travel Tech Map as the universe for the study, used LinkedIn profiles to establish gender.

The metro-style Belvera B2B Travel Tech Map of the industry includes lines for aviation tech, accommodation distribution tech, TMCs, car rental tech, in-destination experiences tech, short-term rental tech and more as well as line for top personalities, lobby groups and journalists. In total the map features over 400 ‘stops’ and is updated most months.

When breaking down these results by business vertical, the area with the highest amount of female leaders was lobby groups with 36%, whilst the worst performing was car rental with only 10%.

As a comparison to how the industry has evolved, in 2021 Belvera carried out a similar analysis based upon its tech map as it stood at that time (a smaller but still significant selection of travel tech companies). That study showed that 12.4% of CEOs were female and therefore it is possible to argue that the situation has ever-so-slightly improved. 

However, the company stresses that this is not a 100% like-for-like comparison as today’s map is bigger and some companies on the previous map have been removed due to the ever-changing landscape of travel tech (closures, mergers, etc.).

Roman Townsend, managing director of Belvera Partners, said: “When we first created the map it seemed like a light-hearted way to explain our industry but over time we’ve begun to realise that actually it’s a serious exercise as people contact us all the time with feedback and requests for inclusion. 

"But also when used like this for mining data, it can provide a very valuable snapshot of the industry – and I hope something to make us all take stock of just how woeful a lack of diversity there is in our industry. Imagine what we could achieve if we rectified this? 

"Bias can catch us all out though and if anyone has ideas for female led businesses or individuals that we’re not including right now, please let us know at once. 

"Watch out for some data we’re producing on how many of the CEOs are not white, I think you can guess the result but having the data is key to a meaningful debate.” 

Maria Sellar of B2B payments platform Terrapay, felt that sadly this wasn’t surprising based on her extensive experience and called up on the industry to take positive action to develop and promote female leaders. In addition she pointed out how travel tech companies ultimately lose profits over this as their products and services are not always responding to needs of female travellers. 

She said: “I recommend that all travel tech companies employ a Chief Female User Experience Officer to ensure that their offering really is appealing and relevant to female travellers."

Ayşe Yaşar of B2B accommodation booking platform Bedsopia, added: “lots of research shows that females make more than the majority of travel choices, particularly in the family setting the key decision maker and person planning the whole trip is a woman almost all of the time. 

"So if you’ve no or few females in your top team in your company, how can claim to understand that market?”

Luisa Oyarzabal, VP business strategy and operation transformation of experiences and mobility travel group GoNexus Group, said: "We are both disheartened and motivated by the findings of the Belvera Partners report. 

"This stark disparity highlights a significant challenge in our sector—a challenge that we must confront head-on. To a significant extent the problem is self-perpetuating as the lack of female leaders doesn’t inspire junior females on, nor do the panels at conferences or people quoted in media help as they too are often male dominated.

"I call on all companies to have a publicly available plan, with clear and measurable objectives, for how they are going to change this as well as transparency on salaries,” she said.

Caroline Dal’lin from Custom Travel Solutions (CTS), a software-as-a-service private-label platform to sell travel for closed-user groups such as membership organizations & loyalty programs, observed that “whilst the number of CEOs being overwhelmingly male is still an indicator of how far we have to go, it is perhaps more meaningful to look at the proportion of females in the C-Suite and perhaps one level below as change is arguably happening from the ground upwards and you’d therefore expect equality amongst CEOs to be the last thing to occur. On that basis I’d say change is afoot, but that is it is slow."

She added: "I’d like to see more research done into this as well as more efforts to create real opportunities for women and overcome a gender barrier that is only blocking us from reaching success altogether. Gender should not be part of the equation.”