In celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March, we are delighted to spotlight some of the inspiring women in our membership to learn about their journeys and experiences, champion their achievements, and discuss whether inbound tourism is a welcoming industry for women and how it can better support women in the workplace.
Kelly Strong has a wealth of experience in tourism, having worked for hotels, tour operators, and is now Managing Director of Strong Recruitment. Kelly was a founding member of the British Incoming Tour Operators Association – now UKinbound – and serves as a Board Director. In 2024, Kelly was awarded the Members’ Choice award at the UKinbound Awards for Excellence, as voted for by the membership for her significant contributions to the industry.
What inspired you to enter the tourism industry?
I started traveling at age two, as my father’s job often took him abroad. In the late 1950s, his company invented cellophane; during the 1960s, he was tasked with opening sales offices worldwide. For the first time, fruit, vegetables, meat, and tobacco could be wrapped, exported, and kept fresh, revolutionising global trade.
Thus, I spent the first 10 years in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Dad travelled a considerable amount of the year, and it took double the time to fly that it does now with many stopovers. His company agreed his family could travel with him during school holidays, so we spent many hours in the air travelling around the world, staying in different hotels every few days – that caught my passion for travel. My desire was always to work in hotels. We returned to the UK when I was 14 and moved to St Helens in Merseyside.
My first full-time job at 17 was working for a hotel group in London, working in the world’s first central reservation system – many of you may know Jackie Boughton, my first boss! Two years later, I joined an inbound tour operator, held various jobs in three companies, and became a General Manager. I spent 20 years promoting British tourism and travelled extensively on sales trips. I then joined as a Director of the largest theatre ticket agency to develop non-theatre products and oversee box office services. 2001 saw me open Strong Recruitment to specialise in the recruitment for inbound tourism.
When I started in the industry back in 1977, interviews for women often included questions like:
“How old are you?”
“Are you married?”
“When are you planning to have children?”
Companies would frequently specify the preferred age group and whether they wanted a man or a woman for the job. And if you already had children, it was assumed you’d be staying home to look after them. There was also the belief that you’d always be late for work, take unexpected days off, or need to leave early for childcare. Most mums had to juggle everything themselves.
I often bore my friends with a story about my first World Travel Market – I’ve been to every one since then. The first one was held at Olympia. The guys in the office were all told to wear dark suits and white shirts, while all the ‘girls’ (as we were called, no matter our age) got handed blue T-shirts to wear. If the stand got quiet, we’d hear, “Girls, go for a walk,” and we’d strut around the event in T-shirts that said, “If you want to sleep with me” on the front, and “Follow me to XXX Hotel” with the stand number on the back!
Looking at the industry now, things have changed a lot. Tourism offers so many opportunities, and it’s constantly evolving. Over the past decade, we’ve seen a fundamental shift, with more women in the industry than men and a significant increase in female MDs and CEOs. It’s no longer a big deal when a woman is promoted.
Is there a particular female role model that has influenced your career?
Probably Pat Hansen at European Travelhouse – my first boss with an inbound tour operator. A force of nature, a huge campaigner on diversity in the 70s, recruiting women, disabled people, people of colour, and people of different religious and sexual backgrounds within her company. We were the first travel company to have a fax machine, which she bought back from Singapore. None of our clients or suppliers had one, so we had to keep the telex another year! She taught me so much about the different cultures we worked with, strong organisational skills, the importance of developing products, strong negotiation and sales skills, and strong partnership relationships. Coincidentally, she was a founding member of UKinbound (BITOA as it was called). Highlighting the forward thinking of the Association, our first three UKinbound chairmen were women – Laura Morgan, Pat Hansen, and Sarah Dale.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
We all have so many blessings from working in this industry. Like getting five comps on Concorde to New York, being one of 400 tourism people invited to Buckingham Palace for a drinks reception with the Royal Family in 2013, sleeping in a turret room at Leeds Castle for a weekend, my first promotion into sales at a hotel company, and the many friends I’ve made whom I see outside of work… But probably the most special moment recently was winning last year’s 2024 UKinbound Awards for Excellence in the Members’ Choice Award category. At my age, I did my first public speaking, making a far-too-long thank you speech – but the following months were filled with joy, reconnecting with so many people who reached out.
What can the industry do better to support women’s development and leadership?
We’ve seen decades of improvement, thanks in part to laws protecting women from ageism and sexism and raising awareness around women’s health issues. We no longer hear the stories that were common until 2000 – bullying, sexual harassment, lack of promotion, ageism, and mothers being denied opportunities. That said, there’s still work to be done, especially on issues like menopause and some of the overly friendly banter that can occur in offices. But I truly believe that, in inbound tourism, everyone has the same opportunities.
What advice would you give to young women starting their tourism careers?
Work hard, say yes to every opportunity, show respect, be kind, and never stop learning. Try to go into the office more to learn from your peers and get help if you struggle. Laugh a lot. Say yes to every invitation – another great benefit of our industry is the chance to attend events, such as theatre shows, hotel showcases, destination tours, trade shows, attraction events – anything! It’s a fantastic way to network with industry colleagues, and knowing what the UK offers visitors is essential.
How have you seen the tourism industry evolve with regards to opportunities for women in the sector?
It was huge back in the 80s if a woman became a General Manager of a hotel – it would be the talk of the industry and covered extensively in the press. Companies often specify that only men be sent for specific jobs, usually at the management level. Having a name that could belong to either a man or a woman sometimes raised eyebrows, especially during sales missions. I’d correspond with companies for ages, and when I showed up as Kelly, they were often surprised! The welcome cigar would quickly be put away!
These days, I don’t hear women saying they don’t have the same opportunities. There have been so many positive changes, and I don’t believe the industry recruits a specific ‘type’ anymore – take a look around! In fact, I’d say that seven out of 10 people we placed in 2024/2025 are women. Other industries could learn a lot from the travel and tourism sector!
