The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) recently reaffirmed its commitment to the core principals of the USTOA Sustainability Promise — which includes diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI — in a public statement.
Why? To paraphrase Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, diversity is not just a moral imperative. It's good for business.
USTOA has 145 active tour operator members and hundreds of industry associate members who are committed to integrity, responsibility and sustainability in the travel industry, and they replied to our statement with words of encouragement and gratitude. Our membership’s ongoing commitment to climate and social justice strengthened our resolve to reaffirm our own stand publicly. It was the right thing to do, and we hope it gives others the courage to do so, too.
It was the right thing to do, and we hope it gives others the courage to do so, too.
In 2022, on our 50th anniversary, USTOA launched sustainability and DEI efforts with the full support of our Executive Committee, Board of Directors and members. That year, the USTOA Future Lights of the Tour Industry was established to mark the association’s commitment to focus on the people, issues and opportunities that will shape and improve the tour industry for future generations.
For the past two years, USTOA’s Future Lights have featured champions in the DEI space. In 2024, we recognized B Lavornia, who serves as the co-chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for the higher education sector at WorldStrides. In that role, Lavornia engages with students studying abroad and provides consultative support to various teams within the organization on issues related to diverse student populations. Under Lavornia’s leadership, the DEI committee successfully launched a 36-week Diversity 101 course for WorldStrides employees that addressed topics such as implicit and explicit bias, stereotypes, impact versus intent, diversity, accessibility, inclusive communication and more.
Terry Dale, CEO and President of USTOA
Credit: 2025 USTOAIn 2023, Mikey Sadowski, vice president of communications for Intrepid Travel, was named one of USTOA’s Future Lights and acknowledged for his role in the creation of the company’s Ethical Marketing Guidelines. Designed to hold the business accountable in becoming a more diverse and inclusive company, the guidelines contain five commitments and 23 measurable actions, including that at least 50% of Intrepid’s content partners identify as BIPOC, 10% as plus-size, 10% as LGBTQIA+ and 10% as Indigenous. With his oversight, Intrepid also created and launched a series of BIPOC content creator mentorship trips aimed at providing greater support to popular and emerging influencers.
USTOA’s values will not change, and I have the full confidence of our board to defend, affirm and fight for those values.
USTOA also provides resources for its members to strengthen their individual commitments to DEI. These resources include virtual educational sessions focused on DEI hiring and training best practices, access to our Journey to Responsible Travel Library (which has an entire section dedicated to DEI resources covering various topics) and a newly launched Sample Sustainability Strategy, which provides a roadmap for organizations to incorporate DEI practices into their operations and offerings.
USTOA’s values will not change, and I have the full confidence of our board to defend, affirm and fight for those values. In fact, it was as recently as our summer board meeting, when USTOA’s Five-Year Sustainability and DEI Plan was presented, and that members agreed to continue to call it “DEI.” This is a core principle of USTOA, so why not say exactly what it is: diversity, equity and inclusion.
