Given the challenges and the importance that gender equity, empowerment and better working conditions for women in the tourism sector represent for the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Dominican Republic was present at the « Introductory Workshop Course on Tourism Employment Data Disaggregated by Sex: Challenges and Solutions in its Measurement ».
This first virtual activity was made possible as part of the joint actions carried out by UNWTO, the German Development Agency (GIZ) and UN Women in the Primer Plano Project comprising Costa Rica, Mexico, Jordan and the Dominican Republic.
Through the Ministry of Tourism (MITUR), the country of Quisqueyano was represented in the workshop by Uridici Ortega, from the Technical Vice-Ministry in the area of International Projects and Relations with the ASFL.
The main objective of this first workshop was to familiarize participants with how to measure employment in tourism, its complexity and how to obtain gender-disaggregated data on this aspect.
UNWTO’s interest in continuing the fight to recover the conditions of women in tourism affected by the Covid-19 pandemic has focused on the fact that 54% of the workforce in tourism is made up of women and that many of these positions have been low-skilled.
Clara Van Der Pol, coordinator of UNWTO’s Department of Statistics, began the webinar by highlighting the importance of statistics as the fundamental method for mobilizing the power of data for decision-making and policies that serve the public good.
The expert in statistical training also spoke about the main techniques and tools used by the organization for data collection when presenting the topic: « Introduction to the World of Statistics in Tourism ».
She also explained how the UNWTO seeks to take advantage of this resource, considered the most reliable « in a world that is saturated with data of all kinds » and the need to reduce the gap in the working conditions of women in tourism.
Pol considered crucial the importance of coordination between experts and national and international organizations on the issue of measuring employment data and the situation of women in the sector in general.
Nagore Uresandi, expert in tourism and big data, who served as instructor at the workshop, opened the second session of presentations by summarizing the topic: « Measuring Employment in the Tourism Industries » in which, among other aspects, she presented in graphs the differences and categories of employment in the tourism industries and that which is related to the goods and services purchased by visitors, among other variables.
In this first hour of the course, a round table was held, coordinated by Uresandi, where the speakers dealt with: Real cases of measuring jobs in tourism industries with their challenges to disaggregate them by gender and possible solutions.
Participants included María Luz Sanarrusia Solano, economist at the National Institute of Statistics of Costa Rica; Raúl Figueroa Díaz, director of Satellite Accounts at the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) and Francisco Javier Molina López, head of Area in the General Subdirectorate of Knowledge and Tourism Studies of Turespaña.
