Women in Travel: It’s Peak’s Natalie Kidd!

We chat with Natalie Kidd, Managing Director, Peak Destination Management Company on women leaders, mentoring men and being confident, in conjunction with the inaugural Women in Travel Awards in November.

I started with Intrepid Travel 10 years ago as general manager in Vietnam. The first Destination Management Company for the group started there and now it numbers 1250 people across almost 70 countries.

Across the group we have more women than men but we’ve probably got a couple of countries where it’s more of a challenge than in others. We have around 1000 tour leaders and guides and that is a heavily male dominated sector. So that’s an area we’ve been focusing on. You can’t ignore gender issues but sometimes I like to look more broadly than at gender issues alone.

You often get the explanation that culturally it’s not acceptable for women to lead. We have had great success in Cambodia over the past 12 to 18 months where we’ve historically only had a few female leaders. We have changed the recruitment there – it’s not just about attracting the candidates, it’s about us doing a sales pitch to their family.

I don’t think of myself as a woman in the industry, I see myself as a leader in the industry.

When you are a female leader people talk about you being a female leader whereas if you’re male you’re a leader. I get to develop people, I’ve mentored and pushed men to grow in their careers and I’ve pushed women. Developing people across different cultures is what I enjoy most.

The biggest issue is confidence and women putting themselves out there. If a man can do 50% of a job he says he can do it whereas a woman feels she needs to do 80% to 90% or more before she says she can do it. I think that level of confidence is the difference. If you’re direct and make hard decisions, women can be judged more harshly.

Travel Weekly is proud to present the inaugural Women in Travel Awards in Sydney on 17 November.

Award entries are now closed, and finalists will be announced on Travel Weekly only 1 November.

Winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony on 17 November in Sydney. Earlybird tickets are on sale.

Any questions, contact Daisy Melwani on 0401216294 or drop her a line here.

Read other Women in Travel interviews in this series:

Sarina Bratton, Ponant

Sarah Anderson, GTI Tourism

Penny Lion, Tourism Australia

Kim Mason, TravelManagers

Simla Sooboodoo, Hands On Journeys

Eliza Woodward, SmartFlyer Australia

Jennifer Vandekreeke, Carnival Cruise Line