From Sri Lanka to Tanzania: the pioneering hotels run entirely by women

It took Jeewanthi Adhikari a decade to get the promotion she wanted working in the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. For years, she watched as men with less experience were promoted before her. “Even if I got to interview,” says Adhikari, 42, “the interviewer would be judging me, asking if I might get married, or have children and then suggesting family commitments would take over.” Adhikari’s career finally advanced when she was appointed manager of Amba Yaalu, the first and only hotel with an all-female staff in Sri Lanka, which opened in January. She is part of an 84-strong team busting gender stereotypes in a country where less than 10% of the tourism workforce is female. Sri Lanka is an outlier in terms of gender equality in the tourism industry. Worldwide, 54% of the workforce is female. However, only 14% of women progress to any level of seniority, according to Natalia Bayona, executive director of UN Tourism. Despite this, Bayona thinks the tourism industry is changing quickly, especially since the pandemic. “The good thing about Covid was that it opened a window for developing opportunities that were not there before for women, especially in rural areas,” she says. Women are leading businesses and seeing opportunities to rebuild through tourism, she adds, particularly in countries in the global south which have been ravaged by inequality and conflict in the past. “Gender equality is moving fast in tourism and this won’t be a trend, it will [yield] results that tourists want,” she adds. “Women lead in a very special way that takes into account multitasking, responsibility and humanity.” Located on a mango plantation along the banks of Kandalama Reservoir, Amba Yaalu is the newest addition to the Thema collection of hotels, founded by Chandra Wickramasinghe. His inspiration for a female-operated hotel came from his mother, who raised eight children alone while working as a nurse. His aim is to boost female participation in the tourism workforce as well as provide an alternative source of employment for the hundreds of thousands of women who leave to become domestic workers in Gulf states. Wickramasinghe was aware that women made up about 10% of the tourism workforce in Sri Lanka. “This is crazy,” he says. “We have got women leaving to Middle Eastern countries. Most are domestic workers, and sometimes used badly. Because they are poor, they go there. So I thought we should help this.” Amba Yaalu follows the all female-operated Westin Hyderabad Hitec City in India, run by Marriott International that opened in June 2023. “The reason we wanted to do something like this was to really champion the cause of diversity,” says Khushnooma Kapadia, vice president of marketing for south Asia at Marriott International. Amrita Biswas, a sous chef at the hotel, had previously worked in male-dominated kitchens for most of her career but says the culinary landscape for female chefs in the country is evolving. “Traditionally, Indian women did the cooking at home,” she says. “But now, they are making significant strides in professional kitchens and leading restaurants. Many talented women are gaining recognition for their culinary expertise and for enriching gastronomy.” In Tanzania, Dunia Camp, Africa’s first and only entirely female-run safari camp located in the south-central Serengeti, often leads the way in guest feedback among the 17 camps within the Asilia group. “Dunia has always been top, top, top,” says camp manager Petronila Mosha. “The guests will rave about the service.” Dunia Camp opened in June 2016, and has meant more women have been able to build careers in the tourism industry, traditionally the preserve of men in Tanzania. When it was floated as a concept, there were only two or three women working in camps across the company, says Mosha. Now up to 30% of the workforce across the company is female. “We have paved the way for many women … Now if you are a female guide, every company will be like: ‘You are a hotcake, come to us.’ We have inspired a lot of women.” It hasn’t always been easy. Getting women to come and work in the bush was a challenge at first. “Everybody was excited about all women working together only to get here and hear the roar of lions or see their footprints next to their tent,” remembers Mosha. Some only lasted a few days before returning to the town. Then, they had to get used to the physical demands of the job. “We grew up knowing these jobs are to be done by men. When it was you [who had to unload heavy boxes] and there were no men there, it was quite challenging. But we found a way to manage,” she adds. Back in Sri Lanka, the team at Amba Yaalu has also had to get used to working with no men. The kitchen is led by Kaushalya Batagoda, one of the few female executive chefs in the country, who was the only woman in her class at hotel school. She grew up in the area and is passionate about encouraging women from rural communities, many of whom have never set foot in a hotel, into the hospitality business. Some people she manages can’t read and this has been a challenge when handling strong chemicals used for cleaning, for example. Lifting heavy gas canisters also takes a bit more time. “They are very capable and very brave women,” says Wickramasinghe. “That helps to build a lot of confidence, especially at night.” In both Sri Lanka and Tanzania, the teams have had to battle people voicing doubt over whether women could run a hotel. They have also fought against stereotypes dictating that a woman’s place is at home and that those who are exposed to western cultures will perhaps start questioning the status quo, or develop habits such as smoking and drinking. In the future, all involved want to see more entirely female-run hospitality and tourism ventures and more women working in the sector. Mosha in Tanzania says: “I think it’s needed and it will happen, especially now people are becoming more open-minded.”