Intrepid partners with MDF to boost female participation in local tourism

Officials from Intrepid and MDF

Intrepid Travel is teaming up with Market Development Facility (MDF), an Australian government funded programme that promotes sustainable economic development across diverse sectors, to support female empowerment.
The partnership aims to build capacity for female suppliers to become more market ready and create a pipeline for employment as trip leaders. 
Intrepid currently employs four female trip leaders in a total pool of 30 in Sri Lanka and has committed to increasing female representation by 40-50 percent by 2025.
In addition, the partnership will seek to expand the number of experiences which are attractive to a female travelling demographic and scope the potential for a new women’s expedition.
Intrepid launched this product range in 2018 as a way to break down barriers, foster discussion and create immersive local experiences for women that are ordinarily off limits on mixed-group departures. The range currently includes trips in Pakistan, Turkiye, Jordan, Morocco, Nepal and India and has proved to be among the company’s top-sellers.

This year, Intrepid projects will run over of 350 trips in Sri Lanka and is looking at ways to strengthen its existing product offering through unique new experiences, including those that are female-led. 
Sri Lanka experienced customer growth of 130 percent in 2023 and is anticipated to be a key growth market for the company over the coming years.
The initiative will also enhance the skills and knowledge of women by identifying and supporting 10 potential scholarship candidates for the National Tour Guide License test, creating a group of tour guide leaders. To kickstart the program, training sessions will be conducted across three provinces (Central, East, and Uva), targeting female participants from locally-owned businesses. 

Speaking on the partnership, Intrepid’s General Manager, Purpose, Sara King said, “Intrepid has a track record championing inclusivity across our trips and offices, and we want to build on to deliver meaningful economic and social impact through tourism for women in this exciting destination.”
Intrepid’s General Manager Sri Lanka, Poornaka Delpachitra added, “In a nation where tourism ranks among the top five forex earners, women - who make up over 52 percent of the population - represent only 10 percent of the industry. Our initiative aims to break barriers, addressing social stigmas to ensure equality and support women into fulfilling careers.”
The project is underway with in-destination training sessions scheduled to start from June 2024.