Validation Day: Air Canada Vacations Celebrates Women in the Travel Industry

Sometimes you can’t help but wonder if the world really would be a better place if more women were in charge.

The travel industry certainly is.

Proof of that was on display Tuesday afternoon in Toronto at Air Canada Vacations’ third annual “Women in Business” event.  The event gathers the amazing women in our industry for an afternoon of connecting, celebrating and camaraderie.

This year’s event was hosted by Air Canada Vacations’ Director of Sales Erminia Gallina and featured panel speakers Dina Bertolo, ACV’s VP Product Development, Rose Cosentino, Vice President Global Wholesale & Retail Sales, Playa Hotels and Resorts, and special guest speaker Brenda Andress, Founder and President of SheIS.

As a reporter, it’s easy to cover this as an event, laying out the facts and taking pictures of smiling women.  As a woman however, it’s hard to put into words exactly what events like this mean to us.

Our Travel Market Report Canada team has been a strong supporter of women in our industry, most recently with our “Travel Women We Love” series.  In 2023, women accounted for 51% of the travel and tourism jobs in Canada; our Canadian team is comprised of 50% women.

I have personally sat down with many of the women in our industry who have had illustrious careers and whom I admire; I’ve heard their horror stories from many years ago of being the only woman at the boardroom table. And as many stories there are about challenges, there is one constant thread – every single one of those women wants to help support other women.  And the women they support are so very grateful for them to have helped paved the way.

That’s why one question Gallina posed to the panel made everyone, not just the panellists, stop and think.  

“What would you say to your younger self, and what would you say to your future self?”

“To my past self, I would say that every challenge that happens, every setback, to trust the process and to take it as a learning, teachable moment,” answered Cosentino.

“Ask, what did I gain from that? Because if that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have learned. Don’t be afraid of it, it’s okay that it happened to you, you came out on the other side. Take it for what it is.

“To my future self, I would say, continue to approach the boundaries. The day you stop learning is the day you die. I learn from my team that surrounds me. I want to still continue to grow, and I want to be able to learn and to embrace that learning.”

Bertolo echoed the importance of learning, agreeing on its role in our careers as women.

“To my young self, I’d say do not let them intimidate you,” says Bertolo. “Don’t be scared. Have more confidence. Because I didn’t; I guess I had the persona of confidence, but I really didn’t. To my future self, please take care of yourself, please take the time listen a little bit more to your body and also to continue learning. You’ll learn from everyone, whether they’re your superiors or not.”

The panel discussed suggestions the industry will continue to move towards more inclusive, relationship-driven, and personally connected professional environments. It also looked ahead at the impact of AI.

“We know that 85% of the time women make the decision when it comes to travel purchases,” said Cosentino. “That’s a good statistic that has been around for many years. AI helps personalize itineraries, it helps people navigate a little bit. Use AI as a tool to help make your job easier and embrace how you can have more efficiency in your job. Embrace the fact that there are more women out there willing to travel alone or with a friend or sibling. Embrace that the fact that women still make the decision to travel in the household and embrace whatever new technologies are out there.”

After the panel discussion, guests were treated to a keynote talk from Brenda Andress, former long-time Commissioner of the Canadian Women’s Professional Hockey League, who has a lengthly lists of accomplishments in the sports world. She won a Premier’s Award Nomination for outstanding economic contribution to society in 2023, a YWCA Women of Distinction Award in 2013, and the honour of being named one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN in 2014.

She has also been recognized multiple times by Hockey News as one of the sport’s top influencers. Currently, she is a finalist for the Women Changing the World Award (2025) in the Company of the Year and Women’s Sport Award categories.

“We, as women, are worthy and deserving, and the strongest thing that we have going for us is that we have to believe it ourselves. Nobody else can tell us, nobody else can believe it for us.” Andress told the room. “We have to believe it within ourselves. The guy who won a recreational trophy out playing ball hockey on the street will come home with his trophy and say, “look what I won.”

But we, as women win awards all the time; in our boardrooms, we’re told by people around us how great we are, and we’re afraid to accept it. We’re afraid to believe that we are worthy and deserving of what comes into our lives, and it’s not for somebody else to make us to believe it — it’s us.”

Andress says the key for women is to change our mindsets; accept compliments and recognition because we deserve them. Stop judging ourselves harshly. Use positive language about ourselves and recognize our own value without seeking external validation.

“You can be you, and you can be you because you believe that you are worthy and deserving in life. It doesn’t mean we’re always going to get it, but it’s the path to believe that you deserve it.

Look in the mirror. The only choice you have is to be okay with the person you’re looking back at, and then decide you want to be that person in the mirror. Because I got news for you, everybody else is taken.”