Highlights
- Ethnic minority representation at senior levels has fallen to its lowest point since 2021, with executive roles dropping significantly.
- Nearly half of hospitality, travel and leisure boards remain all-white, while over a third of retail boards lack any ethnic minority representation.
- Companies with diverse leadership see 5.1per cent higher revenue growth, proving inclusion is good for business.
Leadership representation decline
Ethnic minority representation across Britain’s hospitality, travel, leisure and retail sectors has fallen to its lowest level since 2021, despite these industries collectively employing over 4.3 m people, according to new data presented at the 2025 WiHTL & DiR Inclusion Summit on October (14) at the Hilton Park Lane.
Around 650 senior executives from the HTL and retail industries attended the event to discuss equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). The summit also marked the eighth year of collaboration between WiHTL & DiR and The MBS Group on their annual Impact Report, which this year warns that ethnic minority leaders are disappearing from senior positions.
In hospitality, travel and leisure, ethnic minority leaders at board level have dropped by 3per cent, while executive committee representation has fallen by 3.2 per cent. Retail shows similar declines. Most troubling is that nearly half of all hospitality boards and over a third of retail boards remain entirely white.
"Standing firm on inclusion demonstrates leadership, protects the dignity of human beings, and signals a commitment to fairness,” noted Tea Colaianni, founder and chair of WiHTL & DiR. “True progress requires persistence and ambition.”
Inclusion progress stalls
The report studied data from the top 200 businesses in each sector alongside information from 115 member companies. It found that while gender diversity continues to improve, progress on ethnic representation has not just stopped, it’s going backwards.
Fahimah Zahid, finance transformation project manager at WHSmith and featured in the report’s Role Models for Inclusion Index, speaks candidly about the challenges Being from a racialised community has had a profound negative impact on both my personal and early work life. If Role Models for Inclusion existed back then, I would not have faced such adversity in bringing my Muslim identity to work.”
Elliott Goldstein, managing partner at The MBS Group, who has worked on this research for eight years, is direct: “A large proportion of boards across both industries remain all-white. These realities show the importance of leadership and accountability.”
The research also proves that diverse leadership isn’t just morally right; it’s good for business. Companies with better inclusion practices show measurably better financial results. Organisations where leaders fully support inclusion saw 5.1 per cent higher revenue growth and 0.8 per cent better profit margins.
Diverse pipeline potential
The report shows that 51.9 per cent of leading organisations have seen more women joining at senior levelsWiHTL & DiR
The report's Inclusion Maturity Curve assessment, completed by over 90 companies, shows that 51.9 per cent of leading organisations have seen more women joining at senior levels, while 28.4 per cent report growth in underrepresented ethnic groups in leadership positions. However, these improvements remain limited to already progressive companies.
Many organisations are changing their approach, moving away from formal diversity terminology towards ideas like “belonging” and “inclusive leadership”, partly responding to political backlash, partly trying to embed practices more naturally into workplace culture.
Importantly, the talent pipeline shows promise. At two levels below direct reports, ethnic minority representation reaches 15 per cent in hospitality and an impressive 31 per cent in retail almost double the UK working population average of 18 per cent. This means the talent exists, the question is whether it can reach the top.
"We identified a significant under-representation of people from minority groups in leadership, and with a view to create long-term change, we were keen to engage and inspire more people across the business to lead the EDI agenda,” noted Amy Pandazis, group senior culture & inclusion partner at DFS.
The report comes as Britain faces wider questions about representation and opportunity. With Project 10,000 an initiative to support 10,000 individuals through leadership development programmes by 2030 the industry is attempting to rebuild diverse talent pipelines.
