Women in Tourism Recap and Review
Women in Tourism are back after the summer break with news, views and reviews – read on for a recap of where we are and what’s next.
January: We kicked off 2019 in style with our first #WITWednesday networking breakfast at the Wee Restaurant, Edinburgh, thanks to owner and WIT member Vikki Wood. We made new connections, welcomed new faces, and enjoyed a tasty breakfast!
February: We partnered with Visit Aberdeenshire to hold an industry event on career opportunities for tourism and hospitality in the North East at the Carmelite Hotel, Aberdeen.
March: We celebrated International Women’s Day 2019 in a blog and many of our members took part in Scottish Tourism Month attending various events across the country, including the STA Signature Conference in Glasgow, and the Tay Cities Tourism Conference in Dundee.
April: We hosted Tourism, Tastings & Time Out at the Apex Grassmarket Hotel, Edinburgh, to enjoy delicious drinks, canapes and a variety of food sampling and to hear from some great women leaders in food and drink: Deborah Newman of the Holyrood Distillery, Fiona Anderson of Simple Simon’s Pies, Kaori Simpson of Harajuku Kitchen and Ruth Munro of the Edinburgh Fermentarium. The panel was hosted by Martha Bryce of Soundbite PR and thanks go to Julia MacGregor of Apex Hotels for assisting with the venue and catering.
May: The very first Young Women in Tourism Awards were launched, with 4 categories: Rising Star, Entrepreneur, Student and Tourism Influencer- and some amazing prizes thanks to our generous sponsors, HIT Scotland, Expedia, Entrepreneurial Scotland, and VisitScotland.
WIT members and board members also attended the Business Women Scotland Magazine 2019 Tourism and Hospitality Awards at the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh. We were delighted to see many WIT members nominated for awards and win, including Iris Marhencke, of Gleneagles Hotel and Resort, who won the Outstanding Achievement award, and Emma Clarke, owner of Glenegedale House, Islay, for Front of House Star of the Year, and our very own YOYP Board Member Julia MacGregor, Guest Engagement and Content Manager, Apex Hotels who picked up Marketing/Social Media Star of the Year.
June: The inaugural Young Women in Tourism Awards were celebrated on 12 June at the Place Hotel, Edinburgh, with not only huge industry support and recognition for our winners but also for our shortlisted candidates and all who applied – a great evening was had by all, and our awards and our winners received coverage in the press and social media.
Women in Tourism put out a call for new board members to join the current team.
We enjoyed a fantastic WIT Wednesday at Cold Town House, in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, with a showround, breakfast and chat on the rooftop terrace.
July: We launched a new blog interview series to spotlight WIT members, Women to Write Home About, kicking off with Iris Marhencke of Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire. The blog is a chance to showcase our members and to get their insights into what they can share and learn, and what WIT means to them.
August: Industry Break
September: WIT Board Interviews and WIT Board Meeting
October: WIT Wednesday: Evening event, 23 October at Fazenda, Edinburgh.
WIT has experienced some changes in its board, and other events and board member commitments have meant that regular communications have been reduced over the summer 2019 period, although we have been working in the background on new software systems to improve membership management – this is still a work in progress so we thank you for your patience and ongoing support.
We extend a warm welcome to new members who have recently joined us. WIT shall have some exciting updates soon regarding board members and further developments which will help us to get back up to speed with communications, events and more activities as move into Autumn.
We look forward to sharing more news with our community in October- if you have any questions or comments please get in touch via email: info@womenintourism.co.uk or tweet/DM us @WITScotland. Find our current board members.
