Almaty, Kazakhstan, Leads The Way In Women’s Empowerment And Gender Equality In Tourism

Published on October 25, 2025

In October 2025, Almaty, Kazakhstan, became nan focal constituent for world tourism leaders and changemakers dedicated to promoting gender equality and empowering women crossed nan tourism sector. The metropolis hosted the First Regional Conference connected nan Empowerment of Women successful Tourism successful Europe, nether nan auspices of UN Tourism (formerly UNWTO). The conference, which brought together astir 400 participants from world organizations, governments, businesses, and experts, culminated successful nan take of nan Almaty Call to Action, a broad model aimed astatine addressing gender inequality wrong nan tourism industry.

This important gathering provided a level for tourism leaders from astir nan world to merge and create actual actions to heighten women’s roles successful a assemblage that has been a awesome economical driver globally. The convention emphasized nan request for adjacent opportunities for women, highlighting cardinal areas specified arsenic employment, entrepreneurship, leadership, education, organization engagement, and gender-disaggregated information for informed policymaking.

Gender Equality: A Growing Imperative successful Tourism

Tourism is 1 of nan world’s astir captious economical sectors, employing millions globally, pinch women making up a important information of nan workforce. Yet, gender disparities persist, peculiarly successful activity roles and higher-paying positions. Despite women representing 54% of nan world tourism workforce, they are often concentrated successful lower-paid, informal roles, and look important barriers to accessing activity positions. The Almaty Call to Action focuses connected addressing these issues done initiatives aimed astatine closing nan gender salary gap, ensuring adjacent entree to method and activity roles, and promoting entrepreneurship among women.

Through this initiative, nan tourism assemblage is called upon to return action successful creating much inclusive environments by fostering education, offering training, and improving financial support for women entrepreneurs. It besides encourages businesses and governments to return a much progressive domiciled successful reducing workplace harassment and strengthening policies that beforehand gender equality.

Focus Areas of nan Almaty Call to Action

The Almaty Call to Action outlines a clear roadmap for achieving gender equality crossed six superior areas:

1. Employment: Creating much opportunities for women successful high-skilled and activity positions.
2. Entrepreneurship: Supporting women-owned businesses pinch greater marketplace access, financial backing, and entrepreneurial training.
3. Leadership and Policy: Ensuring women’s practice successful decision-making roles, peculiarly successful argumentation formulation and activity positions wrong nan tourism sector.
4. Education and Training: Promoting education, particularly successful science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), to thief women unafraid higher-paying, method roles.
5. Community Engagement: Empowering section communities done grassroots efforts specified arsenic cooperatives, mentorship, and networking groups that thief women summation visibility and amended their economical conditions.
6. Gender-Disaggregated Data: Encouraging governments and businesses to amended information postulation that is surgery down by gender, which will assistance successful nan improvement of effective, gender-responsive tourism policies.

The telephone aligns pinch nan United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which intends to beforehand gender equality and women’s empowerment arsenic 1 of nan cardinal targets for sustainable improvement worldwide. This schedule recognizes nan captious domiciled women play successful advancing societal and economical goals, and it calls for contiguous action to adjacent nan gender spread crossed each sectors.

Global Momentum for Women’s Empowerment successful Tourism

The Almaty convention is not an isolated effort but portion of a larger world activity to beforehand women’s empowerment successful tourism. This inaugural is an hold of respective erstwhile programs launched by UN Tourism, specified arsenic nan Centre Stage project, which has piloted action plans for women’s advancement successful countries for illustration Jordan, Costa Rica, nan Dominican Republic, and Mexico. These programs attraction connected expanding women’s information successful nan tourism workforce, from expanding entree to acquisition and entrepreneurship opportunities to creating much gender-inclusive policies.

In summation to these programs, UN Tourism has besides introduced a free, online gender-equality people done atingi.org, disposable successful 5 languages, to further acquisition connected gender issues successful nan tourism industry. This people complements efforts to support women successful tech and entrepreneurial ventures, pinch a Women successful Tech Startup Competition for nan Middle East that encourages female entrepreneurs to style nan integer early of tourism.

Sustainability and Tourism successful Kazakhstan

Almaty, which continues to spot accordant maturation successful some overseas and home tourer arrivals, is positioning itself arsenic a hub for sustainable tourism and women’s empowerment successful Central Asia. The Kazakh authorities recognizes tourism arsenic a cardinal area for economical diversification and sustainable development. As portion of this vision, Kazakhstan intends to pull much world visitors and beforehand its rich | taste practice and vibrant tourism landscape. Kazakhstan’s Tourism Development Concept done 2029 sets retired clear goals for enhancing its world tourism opinionated while ensuring gender equality successful nan sector.

According to nan Kazakh Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Kazakhstan has made important strides, pinch nan state ranking 57th successful nan world tourism improvement index. Almaty, arsenic nan country’s superior tourism hub, continues to play a pivotal domiciled successful shaping nan early of Central Asia’s tourism sector. The city’s tourism bureau is committed to supporting women professionals and entrepreneurs, ensuring they person entree to nan resources and opportunities basal to thrive successful nan industry.

The Role of Women successful Shaping Sustainable Tourism

The Almaty Call to Action reflects a corporate committedness to building a much sustainable and inclusive tourism manufacture globally. By investing successful gender equality, nan tourism assemblage stands to use from greater innovation, inclusivity, and resilience. Women person historically played a important domiciled successful shaping tourism, some locally and globally, and empowering them will only heighten nan sector’s wide maturation and sustainability.

In countries for illustration Kazakhstan, grassroots initiatives are progressively helping women summation a much salient domiciled successful tourism. These community-driven efforts, including cooperatives, mentorship programs, and networks, connection semipermanent imaginable for women to summation economical independency and activity roles successful their communities. Such initiatives play an important portion successful improving visibility and enabling women to discuss amended moving conditions.

The take of nan Almaty Call to Action marks a turning constituent successful nan world tourism industry’s efforts to break down gender barriers and create a much equitable future. As countries and organizations astir nan world travel together to guarantee that women are placed astatine nan halfway of tourism development, nan dream is that this will not only use women but besides lend to a stronger, much resilient tourism assemblage worldwide.

Looking Ahead: A More Inclusive Tourism Industry

As tourism continues to turn globally, nan committedness to gender equality and women’s empowerment successful nan manufacture will play a important domiciled successful shaping its future. The efforts undertaken successful Almaty and crossed nan world are a important portion of ensuring that women are not near down successful nan improvement of this move sector. With expanding collaboration betwixt governments, businesses, and world organizations, nan imagination for a much inclusive and adjacent tourism manufacture is becoming a reality.