Destinations International, a global association for destination organisations, conventions, and visitors’ bureaus, revealed a tool to measure equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives. The EDI Assessment Tool is designed to help its member organisations understand how they have implemented EDI in their day-to-day practices so that they can improve upon their results. Through the tool, users can create intentional EDI goals and track progress in the workplace through data-driven metrics. Destinations can assess workplace dynamics, operations and policies, vendor selection, community engagement and accessibility-related strategies. Don Welsh, president and CEO of Destinations International, announced the organisation’s partnership with the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals (NCBMP), who aided in the development of the tool. Welsh said: “Many destination organisations recognise the value of incorporating EDI principles into their brand, but it is often hard to know where to start.” “This tool will set standard metrics across the industry for our members to keep track of progress being made in the areas of EDI,” he added. In developing the tool, Destinations International aims to create awareness and discussion about EDI strategies for global destination organisations. The tool’s reporting features offer leading practices, median and best practice averages, and filters to anonymously compare a member destination to other peers by budget, geography, tourism asset, sports division and more. Sophia Hyder Hock, chief diversity officer at Destinations International, said: “This assessment will provide our destination members with the ability to have a baseline understanding about EDI initiatives as it relates to their workplace, policies and operations, vendors, community and accessibility plans.”
The mission
Under Destinations International’s EDI mission, the organisation advocates the importance of cultivating a welcoming unified travel industry with equitable access for everyone. The association states that it is committed to providing destination communities with thought leadership, best practices and tools based on EDI principles. Several milestones were met by Destinations International from 2019 to 2021, which led to the development of the EDI Assessment Tool. These included:
- Launch of their first survey to gather workforce diversity demographics
- Development of common EDI language and vision for 2020
- Release of their first EDI Study on destination organisations
- Launch of partnership with NCBMP to create a shared advocacy plan strive to educate and unite the hospitality industry equitably
- Launch of EDI Leadership classes
Organisations have four reporting tiers to choose from depending on their chosen package, including:
- Basic – Organisation scoring analysis across EDI verticals, including a comparison to the industry median for each category
- Standard – Comparison of organisation’s responses across each category’s assessment questions
- Advanced – Ability to filter results to see how a member organisation compares to a set of peer destinations
- Premium – 75-minute consultation with Destinations International’s chief diversity officer.
