Driving Purpose at Work Through Responsible Tourism

Jennifer Loh, Regional Manager at GetYourGuide, is also the Head of Responsible Tourism, a volunteer group focused on sustainable tourism, animal welfare, and social impact initiatives.

GetYourGuide has many employee resource groups focused on important topics including Diversity & Inclusion, Mental Health, Incredible Women, and more. In this blog post, Jennifer shares how you can have an impact at work beyond your core role.

We believe purpose is an important part of why candidates consider GetYourGuide. In this article, we’ll share more on how employees can bridge passion and purpose in their day-to-day work.

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At GetYourGuide, we’re on a mission to unlock the world’s most unforgettable experiences. Whether you’re in sales acquiring new experiences, or in engineering building out a new tool to improve the customer site, we all contribute to this greater mission.

While we all have our core responsibilities that support our company strategy, what I love about GetYourGuide is that we’re able to go beyond our day-to-day roles to support topics that are important to us. At GetYourGuide, we have seven employee resource groups that truly drive belonging and purpose: an elected ERG, Diversity & Inclusion, Pride, #IAmRemarkable, Incredible Women, Mental Health Group, and Responsible Tourism Group.

The Responsible Tourism Group

The Responsible Tourism Group is comprised of volunteers focused on supporting sustainable tourism, animal welfare, and social impact initiatives. Our goal is to empower and inform our traveler community on responsible tourism to ensure that GetYourGuide can continue to provide unforgettable experiences for generations to come.

New joiners to the group have the option to participate as an active member, a one-off project volunteer, or in a supporting role during Hack Days. Our active members meet every month to discuss our key initiatives, brainstorm on ways we can integrate responsible practices into our day-to-day operations, and ultimately enhance the customer experience.

We have volunteers from teams across the organization including Engineering, Brand, Sales, Supply, Care, and more. What’s so great about these employee resource groups is that it allows employees to connect with people in other departments and collaborate across teams and geographies.

Showcasing sustainability in travel and tourism

When our group meets, we discuss opportunities to optimize the customer experience, showcase sustainable tours, and provide guidance to our teams as they’re onboarding new experiences. What does this look like at GetYourGuide?

Most recently, the Responsible Tourism Group launched the Eco-Badge initiative to showcase certified sustainable tours on our marketplace, with the goal of improving customer conversion rates. Our team had a unique opportunity to work in collaboration with our UX department, Brand team, Engineering teams, and our Executive Team to bring this project to life.

Our volunteer group has also worked with the Brand Team to publish articles like How to Travel Sustainably and How to Go Green on Your Next Vacation. These are just a few examples of the work we do behind the scenes to bring light to the important topic of Responsible Tourism while supporting the company strategy.

Achieving personal growth

Most importantly, we want to give employees the opportunity to learn and develop in areas that will support their personal growth goals. For the many projects we work on within our volunteer group, we give our team members the opportunity to step up and own projects from start to finish.

This allows employees to level up in skills that will support their growth plan. For example, Danny Soto, our Sustainable Tourism Lead, was the project manager for our Eco-Badge Initiative. At the time of the project kick-off, he was working in the Care Department as a Care Representative.

Being able to manage the Eco-Badge Initiative project allowed him to hone in on the skills needed to apply for a role in the Content Management team. Danny was able to learn how to manage project timelines, improve his stakeholder management skills, and collaborate across teams including UX Design, Brand, Engineering, and Supply.

When anyone in the Responsible Tourism Group volunteers for any project, the first question we always ask is, “Does working on this project serve you?” If the answer is yes, then we go all-in on supporting them.

Whether you’re joining GetYourGuide as an Engineer, a Destination Manager, a Care Representative, or wherever your career journey takes you, I can guarantee you that you will find a home at GetYourGuide. The people at GetYourGuide and the opportunity to work on meaningful projects are truly what make this place so special.

Interested in a career at GetYourGuide? Check out our Careers Page.

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