Nikki Padilla Rivera: Trailblazer on the Rocky Road Artwork

Women We Watch In Tourism

Women We Watch is the first global podcast featuring women leaders in Tourism and Hospitality business and their achievements in entrepreneurship, gender equality, innovation, crisis management and so much more. Each Episode presents the professional journeys of these women leaders, their business models, experiences, leadership qualities and practical transferable strategies for listeners. It features diverse range of women leaders who are movers and shakers, across age groups, geographical regions and sectors within the industry who will share sharp, unfiltered insights and unconventional wisdom. Besides their professional and entrepreneurial journeys, these changemakers will share their human journey — with all its failures and setbacks. The show prides itself on being the ideal platform for women in tourism to seek inspiration, knowledge and to transform their potentials. WWW podcast in jointly presented by World Women Tourism and The Flapper Life. World Women Tourism is World Women Tourism, a network intelligence platform that provides opportunities to women in tourism to connect, grow and flourish. The organization visions to impact the trajectory of women in the tourism industry through promoting diversity, knowledge sharing, building networks, capacity building and opening up business opportunities.For more information, visit us at https://www.worldwomentourism.comThe Flapper Life is a boutique travel studio that paints the destination of your dreams on a blank canvas and takes you to the destination in an unlimitable style. For more information visit us at : https://www.theflapperlife.com

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Women We Watch In Tourism

Nikki Padilla Rivera: Trailblazer on the Rocky Road

January 03, 2022 • Barkathunnisha • Season 2 • Episode 3

In the tourism industry where women make up almost 60% of the workforce, we have witnessed massive gender disparity in tour guiding as a profession. Women have faced various barriers ranging from lack of education and training opportunities to cultural constraints. Even those who break down the barriers to become tour guides, face a host of challenges from discrimination to sexual harassment. Guests flirting with female guides, tours turning out as dates, unwanted touching and invasion of privacy of female guides are common problems that these women battle with. In many countries, female tour guides are expected to bunk with their male colleagues in accommodations.

However, we have seen some positive progress where women are challenging stereotypes by entering the male-dominated profession. An important driver is the demand for female-led tours and solo travel. The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) issued tourist guide licenses to qualified Saudi women in 2019. Of interest is National Geographic’s thought-provoking collaboration with Mattel in 2019. By creating a line of travel-themed Barbie dolls, they were able to encourage young girls to aspire to careers like wildlife photojournalist and polar marine biologist.

Women experience the world differently and a female tour-guide’s perspective in presenting the world through a female gaze can portray destinations, cultures and stories differently. What can we do to pave the way for more women to become tour guides globally?

In episode 3, Nisha (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishatourismexpert/ ) and Zinal (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zinal-doshi/) speak with Nikki Padilla Rivera, a female tour guide who has shattered the glass ceiling in the male-dominated profession and taken the road less travelled. Nikki has worked as a NYC tour guide, a multi-day tour leader, a tour designer for two multi-day start-up operators, and as the Director of the Guide Program at Intrepid Urban Adventures (where she oversees over 160 local operators and 1500+ guides). She advocates for guides to be acknowledged as the most vital part of the tourism environment through the Global Guide Alliance. She is also the co-founder of NextGenTravel, a New York City networking group that brings together all aspects of the travel business. Through her company, Trip Kinetics, Nikki helps with travel operators to improve their guiding and travel experience.

Nikki can be reached via:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-padilla-rivera-68057813b/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nikkiblp

Website: https://www.tripkinetics.com/

This podcast is jointly presented by:
World Women Tourism https://www.worldwomentourism.com/
The Flapper Life https://www.theflapperlife.com/