Diversity / Equity / Inclusion

Finger Lakes Visitors Connection has joined Destinations International Pledge on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We will build and sustain an equitable, diverse and inclusive workforce, led by executive leadership and our boardrooms.

We recognize how critical inclusivity is to bring together a wide variety of voices when promoting tourism and sustaining our economies. Growing an inclusive and equitable workforce reflects the level of diversity we wish to welcome to our destinations. It will foster innovation and provide space for historically marginalized voices to positively evolve how we promote tourism and authentically welcome all travelers. 

We will collectively share best practices for growing equity, diversity and inclusion industry-wide, and we will hold one another accountable for measuring action and progress.

We are part of a highly collaborative and engaged community that leverages the benefits of cooperative learning and shared growth. From understanding the role that unconscious bias plays in preventing equity to actively working towards dismantling systems of power and privilege, we are committed to having open, honest conversations, while holding each other accountable for bringing about an inclusive and equitable industry. That includes sharing knowledge for building an EDI educational curriculum and engaging the expertise of diversity and inclusion professionals.

We will share the lived experiences of marginalized and underrepresented communities that are disproportionately unseen in tourism marketing and storytelling. 

We firmly believe in the transformative power of travel, and we are dedicated to including who the industry has historically ignored. Our goal is to push towards inclusive and equitable marketing practices that prioritize partnerships with underrepresented populations, implement marketing practices that are representative of the communities we promote, advocate for sustainability, and honors the history of the ancestral lands we welcome travelers to explore. We see these as foundational to authentic representation and inclusion.

We will support actions in our communities that seek to achieve equity and justice for everyone, including travelers, stakeholders and citizens alike. 

We are deeply connected to the communities that make up our destinations, and we are committed to nurturing broader cultural and institutional changes that help shape and reimagine what equity and justice looks like. This is imperative to improve our ability to foster a welcoming environment within our destinations for visitors, support our local businesses to purchase goods and services from diverse vendors, and, most of all, stay dedicated to demonstrating how our industry can enrich the lives of those living in our destinations.

The Board and Team at Finger Lakes Visitors Connection.

If you have any questions, please contact info@visitfingerlakes.com.