WITH THE disarray the travel industry finds itself in at the moment due to the global pandemic you wouldn’t begrudge anyone immersed in the business running a mile in any direction to get away from it.

That’s not the case for Adebola Showemimo and Debbie Adigun both of which have been selected by TTG Media for the coveted Tomorrow’s Travel Leaders 30 Under 30 programme.

Fending off more than 170 nominations and entries from across the travel industry Showemimo and Adigun told the Voice Online they were both ‘honoured’ to have been selected by the panel.

Invited to join the eighth year of a scheme launched by ​Travel Trade Gazette , the initiative shines the spotlight on the travel industry’s most inspiring young people who have made an outstanding contribution to their business.

Showemimo started her blog My Breaking Views in 2016 and has used this to share tips on travelling and in 2018, along with Adigun started Black Travel Creators as a platform for black bloggers, YouTubers, and Podcasters.

Owner of blog Wanderlust Calls, Adigun, started to share her love of travel in order to inspire and help others to travel more.

Also having noticed the lack of diversity in the industry, Adigun’s motivation for creating Black Travel Creators along with Sowemimo, was to act as a global community for black travel content creators, with a goal of helping brands tackle issues around diversity within the sector.

The two are the only black people to have been selected as part of the cohort which was chosen by a panel chaired by Daniel Pearce, CEO of TTG Media, and also included TTG sales and marketing director Matt Roclawski and senior features reporter Andrew Doherty.

Pearce said: “As our industry continues to face the most difficult challenge of our careers, TTG is pleased to be able to look to the future with the announcement of 2020’s leaders of tomorrow.”

The final 30 selected will be invited to networking events to hear from and meet current travel industry leaders, as well as seeing their profile raised in regular features in TTG.

Pearce added: “There are countless networking events in travel, but there aren’t many opportunities for the younger stars in the business to meet, to network and to be inspired by some of travel’s current leaders.

“Tomorrow’s Travel Leaders not only celebrates these individuals but also gives them a real opportunity to learn from some of the most senior people in the industry as well as each other.

“I’d personally like to congratulate Adebola Showemimo and Debbie Adigun on making it to the final 30.”

The competition for the initiative was extremely fierce, with nominations across a wide spectrum of industry sectors.

As part of the final 30, Showemimo will receive free membership to the Institute of Travel and Tourism.

Jamie-Lee Abtar, executive director bame Women In Travel hailed the announcement commenting: “I am elated Debbie and Adebola have been selected. They have built an amazing community of Black Travel Creators and collectively exude all of the skill sets required to make an impact in the industry.

“They have identified a growing market segment while championing greater diversity by creating a safe place for creators of colour to get information and resources.”

Adigun enthused: “We are honoured to be nominated for the TTG 30 Under 30 Programme and we are very grateful to Jamie-Lee Abtar for also nominating us.

“We are excited about the opportunities we will gain from such an amazing programme and the people we will network with.”