For a new year, the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality, Sernatur and BancoEstado announced the opening of applications for the fifteenth version of the Female Tourism Entrepreneur contest, an initiative that recognizes and rewards outstanding entrepreneurs in the tourism sector since 2011.
Now in 2024, the competition will reward the commitment of two tourism entrepreneurs who adopt internal policies and guarantee decent work and the safety of their workers. The prizes will be $2,500,000 for each one and an audiovisual kit, material that will help them continue to position their businesses on digital platforms.
Minister Antonia Orellana highlighted the importance of this competition as a boost to strengthen female leadership in the tourism sector. “Supporting entrepreneurs in this field with resources is key to enabling them to grow their businesses, while contributing their knowledge and skills to the development of tourism in Chile. In addition, I would like to highlight the focus of the competition, which allows us to identify those entrepreneurs who create safe work environments, which is essential because it serves as an example and motivates others to promote these policies in their organizations,” she said.
For fourteen years now, this competition has highlighted women in the different roles they play in the national tourism industry, as they are a catalyst for positive changes in local economies. This time, part of the criteria for choosing the winners are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 8, which focus on gender equality, the empowerment of women, the promotion of decent work and inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Regarding the topics to be evaluated this year, the national director of Sernatur, Cristóbal Benítez, explained that “we will highlight those who promote decent work practices and safe environments within the tourism sector, particularly those businesswomen who have adhered to our code of conduct against the sexual exploitation of girls, boys and adolescents in the context of travel and tourism (ESNNA-VT). Those who develop responsible tourism and foster environments that protect their rights in tourist destinations deserve our recognition.”
Female Tourism Entrepreneur 2024
Since 2011, Female Tourism Entrepreneur has highlighted the important role that women have in the national industry, awarding more than 30 businesswomen who contribute to all aspects of this activity: owners of accommodations, restaurants, agencies, craft shops and tourist guides.
Throughout this time, BancoEstado has maintained its commitment and has supported entrepreneurship and economic development in Chile. “We have been understanding the different economic sectors of the country’s entrepreneurship for more than twenty years. For this reason, we developed a specialized bank with a financial offer that takes into account the seasonality of the sector, allowing the financing of infrastructure, equipment and projects that aim at the sustainability of businesses. We are also convinced that business development is essential for the growth of companies, so, in addition to financing, we have a complete offer of training services, productive linkage, dissemination and other tools, all from a gender perspective, even more so in sectors with a greater female representation, such as tourism, which is why we are proud to say that BancoEstado has supported this award since its inception,” said Emilio Vélez, manager of Smaller Companies at the bank.