IWD: TTC Tour Brands’ Toni Ambler says her company’s pay gap will be 0% in 12 months

IWD: TTC Tour Brands’ Toni Ambler says her company’s pay gap will be 0% in 12 months
By James Harrison


Happy International Women’s Day!

To celebrate the fantastic women in the travel industry, we’ve chatted to some women to discuss female-focused issues and how their respective brands help women in the travel industry.

Here we have Toni Ambler, the managing director of TTC Tour Brands, who highlighted the incredible work her company does to empower women in the workplace.

“At TTC we believe we have a responsibility to highlight some of the wonderful achievements of women in the industry as a way to both celebrate and create pathways for up-and-comers across the travel sector, with the goal of supporting them into leadership roles,” Ambler told Travel Weekly.

Ambler highlighted TTC’s mentorship program that connects colleagues at complementary stages of their career to facilitate career growth. It also has the Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity & Action (IDEA) initiative, which includes the Women of TTC & Allies Identity Circle to “facilitate creating a workplace where women can excel, grow, and know they are supported.”

Ambler continued: “The future of our industry looks bright…. It’s promising, filled with opportunities, but we’ll get there faster if we all pitch in, break those barriers, and make sure every woman’s journey is as smooth as possible.”

Ambler told Travel Weekly that TTC’s gender pay gap is at four per cent in favour of men, which is lower than the 19 per cent national average.

“We would like it to be zero and that’s what we strive towards,” Ambler told Travel Weekly.

“Ask me in 12 months time and hopefully I can give you a zero per cent statistic… Hold me to it.”

But the renowned wholesaler doesn’t just talk the talk. TTC is looking to promote it’s new women’s tours this IWD, with a series of new Insight Vacations trips taking the spotlight.

“We are launching this week our new Insight Vacations Women-Only Tours for 2025,” Ambler said.

“Destinations will be Italy, Scotland, Portugal, Scandinavia, Egypt, India, and the USA – a total of nine different itineraries with three to five departures each in 2025.”

Some special experiences on the trip include a bagpiping workshop and demonstration by a female Bagpiper who has piped for William and Kate and at the Olympics, a farm to table meal paired with wine at a Quinta, where the winemaker is among the first woman winemakers in the Douro Valley in Portugal and a painting class on Burano Island in Italy with a female artist.

Outside the new tours, Ambler highlighted where there is still room for improvement regarding women in the travel industry.

“I think maternity leave and policies and flexible return to work policies are so important to ensure we don’t lose the talent in our industry, and we continue to build a future generation of leadership,” she said.

“The undeniable fact that we need to take time off to have babies means we second guess our ability to put our hands up for leadership roles, or even just promotions.

“I have been in leadership roles for quite a while now so I have made it my mission to ensure we are doing all that we can to support women in the workplace.”

Read our IWD piece with Ponant’s Belinda Hindmarsh here.

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