Justin Francis: 'Donald Trump is wrong on DEI – we must embrace it'
Contrary to the views expressed by Donald Trump, some global corporations and investment firms, I believe diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programmes enrich society and business, and are essential if we are to manage climate change, migration and overtourism.
Tourism is essentially a cross-cultural experience. Our client base is global, and we rely on a great diversity of people from around the world to host the guest experience. But what Trump seems to forget is that we’re not all gifted the same opportunities at birth.
If we want our industry, and our client base, to reflect and benefit from diversity, we need to lean in through DEI programmes to make that happen – because it won’t otherwise. There are brilliant potential staff, entrepreneurs and future industry leaders who, having lacked the same educational opportunities as others, would be easy to overlook. And that would be our loss.
From a sales perspective, look at the vast neglected market in accessible travel, and the potential new travellers in growing economies. If we want to expand our client bases, we need to be more, not less, inclusive in terms of our staffing, our content and our marketing.
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Power theory suggests those with economic, political and cultural power, access to resources and education, control over information and legal influence can retain and improve the quality of their business – and people’s lives – at a faster rate. In short, without leaning into DEI programmes, inequality increases.
It is estimated that by 2050, 1.2 billion people could be displaced globally by climate change. Building the economies and resilience of countries that are most affected, as well as supporting them to protect nature and its ability to sequester carbon alongside reducing our carbon impacts, is one of the most important things business – especially tourism businesses – can do to reduce mass migration.
And finally, protests about the impact of overtourism are growing globally, and some destinations are restricting or taxing tourism as a result. Essentially, they are saying the costs and burdens of tourism are outweighing the benefits, and asking: "What’s in it for us?"
By "us", they mean their whole community. A tourism industry and individual businesses with good evidence of DEI will be more welcome than one focused on enriching itself or the few.
At Responsible Travel, we start – as many travel companies do – with people from all backgrounds, races and religions running our 6,000 tours, growing the food that’s served, guiding and cleaning rooms.
Tourism can be good at giving entry-level jobs to those who have had less access to education than others. At our best, our industry supports and develops them into more senior roles.
We have much more to do, but Responsible Travel has programmes to grow our LGBTQI+ and accessible travel offers, and label and encourage tourism which benefits Indigenous Peoples.
We also promote holidays offered by female entrepreneurs; celebrate community-based tourism; fund day trips for disadvantaged children around the world, and write content promoting diversity.
Our industry must embrace DEI if we are to build a fair, just, healthy and vibrant industry that’s fit for the future.
Justin Francis OBE is co-founder and executive chair of Responsible Travel.
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