Working with Women on Responsible Travel

WomenTravel is focused not simply on travel, but on how we can travel sustainably, and giving back to local communities as much as possible. I enjoyed reading this article in the latest Adventures in Good Company newsletter about how things have changed in the past 20 years. Adventures in Good Company is one of the women focused companies you can find listed, along with their tours on www.womentravel.info

When we started guiding women’s outdoor adventures 20 years ago there weren’t very many women doing what we do. Not only were there fewer women guiding professionally, there was far less representation of women in the outdoors. But we’ve come a long way.

Over the last two decades Adventures in Good Company has met and worked with dozens of groundbreaking women in the field of adventure travel. Maria Abud is one of those incredible people. As the owner and director of Patagonia Tours, Maria has used her love of the mountains and background in guiding to build a woman-powered company in a male-dominated field.

“Being a woman in Chile and running an adventure travel company is the very lowest [life circumstance] a woman could ask for. It’s a man’s world here, at least that’s what I have encountered for so many years. But I think that the will of doing what I love is stronger.”

Maria is our Chilean partner for our Patagonia trips and we recently caught up with her to hear about her company, her dreams, and the tourism industry. We also wanted to know how she thinks the world of adventure travel has changed.

“Nowadays you see all sorts of young women, couples, different people enjoying the mountains. That has become so much more available for the world. Outdoor activities have become so much more accessible,” she says.

Read more of this article here