Travel Unity Awards

Celebrating inclusion, innovation, and leadership in travel and tourism.

Bringing together young people, educators, and industry professionals to explore careers in travel, leadership and create inclusive future.

Travel Unity celebrates the work of groundbreaking organizations and individuals who are passionate about inclusion in travel and are helping make the industry more welcoming for all.

Awards are presented annually and recognize measurable impact in diversity, equity, and inclusion across the global travel industry.

The Travel Unity Awards recognize organizations and individuals who are driving meaningful change in the travel industry through inclusive practices, leadership, and innovation.

Each year, Travel Unity honors those who are making travel more accessible, equitable, and welcoming for people of all backgrounds and identities. The awards highlight measurable impact, community engagement, and leadership that inspires progress across the global travel ecosystem.

The awards are presented during the annual Travel Unity Awards Dinner and Summit, where industry leaders gather to celebrate achievements and share best practices in inclusive travel.

Dinner Sponsors & Partners

Wheel the World

Wheel the World is a pioneering platform transforming accessible travel for people with accessibility needs and seniors. Through its Accessibility Verified program, the organization partners with destinations and hospitality businesses to verify and improve accessibility, ensuring travelers receive accurate and reliable information.

Since 2018, Wheel the World has improved access to travel for more than 25,000 people and works with over 150 destinations to unlock the accessible travel market. Their leadership and innovation in accessibility will be recognized at the Travel Unity Awards Dinner.

Award Categories

The Travel Unity Awards recognize excellence across multiple areas of inclusive travel and tourism.

Travel Unity celebrates the work of groundbreaking organizations and individuals who are passionate about inclusion in travel.

The 2025 Travel Unity Award categories are:

Meet the Winners

These individuals and organizations represent the best of inclusive leadership and innovation in travel.

Meet the Finalists

Finalists represent leaders and organizations making a meaningful impact in inclusive travel across the world.

Inclusion Champion Finalists

Shebs Alom

As news editor, for Halal Travel Network, Shebs has champion the growth of Halal tourism through impactful, journalism and strategic partnerships with tourism boards. His work directly contributed to major industry wins and inspired new voices in the sector.

Allie Bahn

For over 15 years, Allie has worked to make travel inclusive for the 33 million Americans with food allergies through her platform. Miss Allergic Reactor, reaching over 60,000 travelers across multiple platforms. She combines personal expertise with professional consultation services, partnering with destinations and brands to recognize food, allergies as a critical accessibility issue in travel.

Tami Fairweather

As former Director of Media Relations at ATTA, Tami increased diverse media representation at international trade conferences by 32% from 2018-2024, generating 6.2 billion earned media impressions globally. Her strategic outreach to underrepresented communities and collaboration with local businesses has created sustainable pathways for inclusion across the adventure travel industry.

Oregon Coast Visitors Association

OCVA has strategically built a network of local stakeholders committed to making the Oregon Coast accessible for all visitors, partnering with organizations like Travelability and Wheel the World. Their collaborative approach prioritizes listening to residents with lived experience, transforming “The People’s Coast” from a tourism slogan into meaningful action for inclusive outdoor access.

Jeny Pokharel

Jeny has transformed the lives of 375 female survivors of human trafficking by training them as certified tour guides, hospitality staff, and culinary experts through her social enterprise in Nepal. Her work has contributed to a 73% reduction in trafficking rate since 2011 by developing 10 trafficking-prone communities through homestays and alternative income sources.

Julia Cohen Ribeiro

As Argentina‘s first Afrotourism Director, Julia has transformed the country’s tourism landscape by centering Afro-descendent heritage, leading the first Afro-Argentine heritage tour, and helping develop Argentina‘s first federal Afrotourism map. Her work created El Tambo Afro, the first black entrepreneur shop in Argentina, and she is directing the first documentary about black heroin Maria Remedios del Valle.

Sherry Rupert

A CEO of the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association, Sherry leads the only national association dedicated to indigenous tourism and launched the first-ever economic impact study of U.S. indigenous tourism businesses. She was instrumental in passing the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience (NATIVE) Act and serves on multiple national boards, advancing indigenous tourism.

John Sage

John has served over 50,000 customers with disabilities through his three accessible travel companies and partners with 15+ cruise lines representing 87% of the industry’s accessible shore-excursion market. He authored WTTC‘s Inclusive and Accessible Travel Guidelines and leads accessibility initiatives for 13 national and global travel organizations.

Community Impact Finalists

Cory Lee

Cory became the first person to visit all seven continents in a powered wheelchair and has inspired thousands of wheelchair users to travel through his blog, which has reached over 5 million visitors since 201. In 2022, he launched Curb Free Foundation, which has provided six fully-funded dream trips to wheelchair users, covering all expenses for recipients and their companions.

Tourism Cares

Through their Meaningful Travel Map platform, Tourism Cares has connected over 650 community-based organizations across 40+ destinations to the global tourism marketplace, featuring Indigenous cooperatives, women-lead enterprises, and social ventures. The platform has generated increased visibility and income for local changemakers, demonstrated through success stories like Iraq, Al Amir Women’s Cooperative in Jordan, which gained international tour operator partnerships after being featured on the Map.

Minja Kovacevic Surlan

In collaboration with the Tourist Organization of Banjo Luka, Minja connected local communities and organizations in Krupa na Vrbasu to promote inclusive tourism experiences. Her work led to Krupa na Vrbasu being included in the World‘s Best Villages Network (UN Tourism) and the Most Beautiful Villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and her expertise has been recognized by other cities in BiH who hired her to develop rural tourism projects.

The Hybrid Tours

The Hybrid Tours partners with local guides, grassroots organizations, and displayed people to ensure tourism dollars benefit marginalized communities. They collaborate with survivors of war and genocide to create bridges between travelers and overlooked communities.

American Bus Association

Under President & CEO Fred Ferguson’s leadership, ABA has made DEI central to its mission by creating affinity groups including the African-American Motorcoach Council, Hispanic Motorcoach Council, and Women in Buses Council. Through their ground baking partnership with AIANTA, ABA expanded opportunities for Indigenous,-owned tourism businesses, and they provide members with practical resources like guides on curating, Black heritage tours and Indigenous tourism.

Destination, Asia

For over eight years, Destination, Asia has provided young, marginalized, Indonesian women, but hospitality training and employment opportunities through their partnership with Bali WISE. The program offers on-the-job training and financial support at their Bali office, equipping participants with practical knowledge and competencies needed to thrive in the hospitality sector while building a network that helps them break free from poverty constraints.

Lunfarda Travel

Lunfarda Travel is the only company in Argentina working with CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean) to promote Afrotourism, bringing global visibility to the Afro-Argentine community. They developed Argentina‘s first Afro-FAM trip, creating a sustainable pipeline of opportunities for Afro-Argentine guides, artists, and communities while partnering with institutions like Mocha Celis and LGBTQ+ initiatives to ensure multiple communities benefit directly from tourism.

Outstanding Academic Research Finalists

Dr. Bella Vongvisitsin

Dr. Vongvisitsin’s groundbreaking research applies social identity theory and queer ethnographic paradigms to uncover the experiences of LGBTIQ+ individuals in diverse Asian context, challenging Western-centric narrative and developing innovative frameworks including a sexual and gender normativities model of servicescapes and the first systematic multi-country survey of transgender medical tourism intention. Her work bridges academia and practice through the Inclusive Tourism Asia campaign, workshops with industry professionals globally, collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and representing RFSL at the UN Human Rights Council to address issues of arbitrary immigration detention of trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse travelers.

Dr. Sweety Jamgade

Dr. Jamgade’s doctoral research “Promotion of Sustainable Economic Ecotourism in Rural Areas of Nagpur District, India” presents a holistic framework integrating environmental sustainability with social inclusivity. Her work demonstrates how participatory planning, equitable revenue-sharing models, and culturally sensitive tourism experiences benefit marginalized local communities, indigenous groups, and women stakeholders, and she has mentored undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students to focus on local people employability and inclusivity in ecotourism.

Suqi (Emily) Lu

Emily‘s doctoral thesis at Griffith University empowers people with disability to thrive in the tourism and hospitality sector through an emancipatory research paradigm employing innovative participatory methodologies, notably, Photovoice. Her research extends Fraser’s theory of social justice into tourism and hospitality contexts, critically analyzing 490 tourism policy and planning documents to reveal systemic neglect of disability workforce issues, and proposing a conceptual model of thriving at work specific to people with disability that challenges conventional workplace norms.

Anna Abelson and Dr. Olena Ciftci

Dr Brielle Gillovic and Professor Alison McIntosh

The Tourism For All NZ Research Group at Auckland University of Technology, co-led by Dr. Gillovic and Professor McIntosh, is New Zealand’s only dedicated tourism research group conducting academic and applied research in partnership with industry stakeholders and the disability community. Their work affirms the citizenship rights of people with disabilities and those living with chronic or terminal illness to participate fully in tourism, using academically rigorous, co-creative methodology and challenging ableist assumptions in scholarship to drive social change for a more inclusive tourism world.

Outstanding Organizational Initiative Finalists

Global Glimpse

Since 2007, Global Glimpse’s Equity in Travel Model has served 9,700+ students and 700+ educators with $15M in
scholarships, creating and intentionally diverse student cohorts where 83% identify as BIPOC and 83% come from families earning $70,000 or less. Their innovative partnerships with United Airlines, Away, Expedia, and Marriott demonstrate how the tourism sector can take tangible steps toward inclusion, with 98% of students building meaningful relationships across racial, cultural, and socioeconomic lines through mixed-background travel groups.

Richmond Regional Tourism Foundation

The Richmond Regional Tourism Foundation’s OutRVA program has promoted the Richmond Region as a welcoming LGBTQ+ destination for over 10 years, organizing the third Daniel Dine Out for Pride in June 2025 with approximately 30 restaurants raising $2,180 for Diversity Richmond’s Virginia Pride Program. The program maintains a dedicated website, active social media presence, and newsletter curated by LGBTQ-owned creative agency Big Spoon Co, serves as presenting sponsor for Va Pride Fest (the state’s largest LGBTQ+ festival) for the third year in 2025, and was created through collaboration with the committee of LGBTQ individuals to profile local LGBTQ+ people and affirming businesses.

Orange 142

As a woman-led buy-side platform under Direct Digital Holdings, the ninth Black-owned company to go public—Orange 142 combines data-driven precision with creative storytelling to help destination marketing organizations reach diverse travelers through award-winning campaigns spanning search engine marketing, social media, display advertising, and website design. Their measurable, replicable strategies have increased visitation and boosted local economies for DMOs of all sizes, with a commitment to inclusive and authentic representation that ensures messaging resonates with audiences across demographics while supporting destinations as must-visit hotspots.

The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group

The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group became the first hotel chain globally to receive IGLTA accreditation for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, training over 2,000 employees in DEI and LGBTQIA+ sensitization while creating employment opportunities for 200+ marginalized individuals through their ‘Love For All’ initiative. Named among India’s top 10 Employers for LGBTQIA+ inclusion at IWEI 2024, they offer scholarships to LGBTQ+ students at The Lalit Siri Hospitality School since 2019 and organize Pride month events including filmmaking workshops, art residencies for queer artists, and awareness walks on inclusive practices in hospitality.

ITC HOTELS LIMITED

Ranked India’s fifth Best Company to Work for in 2025, ITC Hotels Limited operates under its Responsible Luxury ethos with robust DEIB mechanisms, employing People With Disability, Veterans, and diverse socio-cultural backgrounds, while preserving Indian culture through locally-sourced ingredients and indigenous artisan partnerships. The chain holds the world’s highest number of USGBC LEED Platinum certification (23), operates the world’s first 12 LEED Zero Carbon and 9 LEED Zero Water hotels, and has exceeded COP21-aligned 2030 sectoral emission targets for five consecutive years while investing in training marginalized youth through institutional partnerships.

Young Professional Finalists

Amine Gabbouj

Rising from IGLTA Foundation intern to Program Manager in less than four years, Amine leads international fellowships, educational programs, and the TUI Futureshapers Global: LGBTQIA+ Travel Innovators Program, providing mentorship and business development skills to LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs in emerging destinations. His research, including “How The Private Sector Can Drive LGBTQ+ Tourism Development In Emerging Destinations” and “Caribbean Kaleidoscope: A Journey Into LGBTQ+ Travel”, has shaped industry practices, and speaking English, Arabic, and French allows him to build bridges across cultures while championing underrepresented voices in global tourism conversations.

Joe Jamison

As CEO and Founder of VisitAble LLC, Joe created the only accessibility training company that successfully scales empathy-based, self-paced training covering all disability types within destinations, evidenced by training 2,200 people in the Richmond region in one year. He speaks at industry events and partners with major associations to change mindsets and raise awareness, pursuing multiple sectors of the travel industry including tour operators and guides, with digestible, scalable training that makes an impact across almost all employees of every organization or location he works with.

Nicolas Scott

Nicolas organized the CTO Regional Nex-Gen tourism showcase for the Caribbean Tourism Organization, a regional youth initiative focused on tertiary level students creating business proposals for tourism businesses by linking different sectors across the Caribbean, demonstrating leadership and developing the next generation of tourism professionals and fostering cross-sector collaboration in the region.

Puneet Singh Singhal

Through his initiative Green Disability, Puneet has built a community of 1,200+ disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill individuals across the Global South, using storytelling and participatory methods to highlight how climate change and inaccessibility intersect with travel barriers. Born in Delhi slum and navigating multiple non-apparent disabilities—dyslexia, dyspraxia, and stammering—he has organized workshops, dialogues, and campaigns that amplify marginalized voices and push institutions to design inclusive systems, earning recognition from Forbes, the Commonwealth, and international networks while advocating for discoverability: the right for all people to be seen, heard, and able to move freely in society.

Akshay Tyagi

As Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group and Founding Member of the Keshav Suri Foundation, Akshay has hired over 200 transgender persons, 500+ queer team members, 300+ people with disabilities and 30 acid attack warriors across roles while making the Lalit the first hotel chain globally to receive IGLTA accreditation. He has led the IGLTA India LGBTQ+ Travel Symposiums (2022–2025), won 27 awards in three years for organizational inclusion, received 5 National Awards for accessibility, and earn recognition as APCOM Hero Award recipient and Trans Ally Award winner while training thousands of hospitality professionals across India.

Meet the Judges

A panel of industry experts and past award winners evaluates all submissions to ensure a fair and impactful selection process.

Travel Unity Awards

Celebrating inclusion, innovation, and leadership in travel and tourism. Bringing together young people, educators, and industry professionals to explore careers in travel, leadership and create inclusive future.

Dinner Sponsors & Partners

Wheel the World

Award Categories

The 2025 Travel Unity Award categories are:

Inclusion Champion

Community Impact

Outstanding Academic Research

Outstanding Organizational Initiative

Young Professional

Meet the Winners

Joe Jamison

John Sage

Dr. Bella Vongvisitsin

Cory Lee

Brielle Gillovic

Alison McIntosh

Wheel the World

Global Glimpse

Meet the Finalists

Inclusion Champion Finalists

Community Impact Finalists

Outstanding Academic Research Finalists

Outstanding Organizational Initiative Finalists

Young Professional Finalists

Meet the Judges

Community Impact Judges

Stephanie Sheehy

Sonya Bradley

Sven Wiltink

Outstanding Academic Research Judges

Dr. Juan Madera

Dr. Edwin Gómez

Dr. Vincie Ho

Outstanding Organizational Initiative Judges

Josh Heinz

Romey Louangvilay

Shayna Walker

Young Professional Judges

Diego Rendon

Noor Ahmad Hamid

Dona Regis-Prosper

Past Award Winners

2024 Award Winners

Dr. Juan Madera

Stephanie Sheehy

Tonya Fitzpatrick

Visit Greater Palm Springs

Diego Rendon

Ethan Gelber

Have Questions About the Awards?

Celebrating inclusion, innovation, and leadership in travel and tourism.

Bringing together young people, educators, and industry professionals to explore careers in travel, leadership and create inclusive future.