Travel urged to stand up to its critics and be proud of its positive impact

Ocean Holidays co-chief executive Harry Hastings agreed, telling forum guests there are “significant commercial opportunities” arising from doing the right thing. “Your customers and stakeholders want you to act and they want to be associated with businesses that do the right thing,” he said.

Hastings also encouraged travel professionals, especially those working in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), not to feel paralysed or overwhelmed by the scale of the action that yet needs to be done in the diversity, equity and inclusion space.

"Until people start taking shots and actually making an effort, they don’t know what success is and how good it feels once they get there,” he added.