Wheel the World is a pioneering solution for people with accessibility needs and seniors to travel the world. They are transforming accessible travel through their platform and “Accessibility Verified” program, which partners with destinations and hospitality businesses to verify, improve, and market accessibility using verified information. They guarantee that every hotel room booked on its platform is accessible, offering a full refund if accessibility is not as described.
Since 2018, Wheel the World has improved access to travel for more than 25,000 people. At the same time, they actively work with 150+ destinations, helping them unlock this emerging market. Their work – and that of their partners – will be recognized at our Awards Dinner in December.
The 2025 Inclusion Champion was decided by popular vote.
Judges: Sonya Bradley, Stephanie Sheehy (2024 Community Impact Award winner), and Sven Wiltink
Judges: Dr. Vincie Ho, Dr. Edwin Gómez and Dr. Juan Madera (2024 Outstanding Academic Research Award winner)
Judges: Josh Heinz, Romey Louangvilay, Shayna Walker
Judges: Noor Ahmad Hamid, Dona Regis-Prosper, Diego Rendon (2024 Youth Award winner)
Young Professional Award
Inclusion Champion Award
Outstanding Academic Research Award
Community Impact Award
Outstanding Academic Research Award
Outstanding Academic Research Award
Special Honoree
Outstanding Organizational Initiative Award
Owner, IL VIAGGIO Travel
Chief Inclusion and Community Engagement Officer, Visit Sacramento
Global Senior Director of Sustainability, Radisson Hotel Group
Curtis L. Carlson Endowed Professor, Conrad N. Hilton College, University of Houston
Professor, Department of Recreation Sciences, East Carolina University
Founder & Executive Director, RISE Travel Institute
Community Engagement Manager, Visit Greater Palm Springs
Co-Founder, VP & Head of Communications, ELMNTL
Global Head of ED+I, Tripadvisor
President & CEO of Associated Students Incorporated, CSUMB
CEO, Pacific Asia Travel Association
Secretary General & CEO, Caribbean Tourism Organization
Category Judges & Selection
The 2025 Inclusion Champion was decided by popular vote, honoring individuals who have passionately and measurably contributed to transforming the landscape of inclusive travel.
As news editor for Halal Travel Network, Shebs championed the growth of halal tourism through impactful journalism and strategic partnership with tourism boards. His work directly contributed to major industry wins and inspired new voices in the sector.
For over 15 years, Allie has worked to make travel inclusive for the 33 million Americans with food allergies through her platform Miss Allergic Reactor, reaching over 60,000 travelers across multiple platforms. She combines personal expertise with professional consultation services, partnering with destinations and brands to recognize food allergies as a critical accessibility issue and travel.
As former Director of Media Relations ATTA, Tami increased diverse media representation at international trade conferences by 32% from 2018 to 2024, generating 6.2 billion earned media impressions globally. Her strategic outreach to underrepresented communities and collaboration with local businesses has created sustainable pathways for inclusion across the adventure travel industry.
Oregon Coast Visitors Association (OCVA)
OCVA has strategically built a network of local stakeholders committed to making the Oregon Coast accessible for all visitors, partnering with organizations like Travelability and Wheel, the World. Their collaborative approach prioritizes listening to residence with lived experience, transforming “the peoples coast“ from a tourism slogan into meaningful action for inclusive outdoor access.
Jeny has transformed the lives of 375 female survivors of human trafficking by training them as certified tour guides, hospitality staff, and culinary experts through her social enterprise in Nepal. Her work has contributed to a 73% reduction in trafficking rate since 2011 by developing 10 trafficking-prone communities through homestays and alternative income sources.
As Argentina‘s first Afrotourism Director, Julia has transformed the country’s tourism landscape by centering Afro-descendent heritage, leading the first Afro-Argentine heritage tour and hoping to develop Argentina‘s first federal Afrotourism map. Her work created El Tombo Afro, the first Black entrepreneur shop in Argentina, and she is directing the first documentary about Black heroin Mařia Remedios del Valle.
As CEO of the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association, Sherry leads the only national association dedicated to Indigenous tourism and launch the first-ever economic impact study of U.S. Indigenous tourism businesses. She was instrumental in passing the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience (NATIVE) Act and serves on multiple national boards advancing Indigenous tourism.
John has served over 50,000 customers with disabilities through his three accessible travel companies and partners with 15+ cruise lines representing 87% of the industry’s accessible shore-excursion market. He authored WTTC‘s Inclusive and Accessible Travel Guidelines and leads accessibility initiatives for 13 national and global travel organizations.
Category Judges
Judges: Sonya Bradley, Stephanie Sheehy (2024 Community Impact Award winner), and Sven Wiltink
Cori became the first person to visit all 7 continents in a powered wheelchair and has inspired thousands of wheelchair users to travel through his blog, which has reached over 5 million visitors since 2014. In 2022, he launched The Curb Free Foundation, which has provided six fully funded dream trips to wheelchair users, covering all expenses for recipients and their companions.
Through their Meaningful Travel Map platform, Tourism Cares has connected over 650 community-based organizations, across 40+ destinations to the global tourism marketplace, featuring Indigenous cooperatives, women-led enterprises, and social ventures. The platform has generated increased visibility and income for local changemakers, demonstrated through success stories like Iraq Al Amir Women’s Cooperative in Jordan, which gained international tour operator partnerships after being featured on the Map.
In collaboration with the Tourist Organization of Banja Luka, Minja connected local communities and organizations and Krupa na Vrbasu to promote inclusive tourism experiences. Her work led to Krupa na Vrbasu being included in the World‘s Best Villages Network (UN Tourism) and the Most Beautiful Villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and her expertise has been recognized by other cities in BiH who hired her to develop rural tourism projects.
The Hybrid Tours partners with local guides, grassroots organizations, and displaced people to ensure tourism dollars benefit marginalized communities. They collaborate with survivors of war and genocide to create bridges between travelers and overlook communities.
Lunfarda Travel is the only company in Argentina working with CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean) to promote Afrotourism, bringing global visibility to the Afro-Argentine community. They developed Argentina‘s first Afro-FAM trip, creating a sustainable pipeline of opportunities for Afro-Argentine guides, artist, and communities while partnering with institutions like Mocha Celis and LGBTQ+ initiatives to ensure multiple communities benefit directly from tourism.
Under President and CEO Fred Ferguson‘s leadership, ABA has made DEI central to admission by creating affinity groups including the African American Motorcoach Council, Hispanic Motorcoach Council, and Women in Buses Council. Through their groundbreaking partnership with AIANTA, ABA expanded opportunities for Indigenous-owned tourism businesses, and they provide members with practical resources like guides on curating, Black heritage tours and Indigenous tourism.
For over eight years, Destination Asia has provided young, marginalized Indonesian women with hospitality training and employment opportunities through their partnership with Bali WISE. The program offers on-the-job training and financial support at their Bali office, equipping participants with practical knowledge and competencies needed to thrive in the hospitality sector while building a network that helps them break free from poverty constraints.
Category Judges
Noor Ahmad Hamid (CEO, Pacific Asia Travel Association), Dona Regis-Prosper (Secretary General & CEO, Caribbean Tourism Organization), and Diego Rendon (President & CEO, Associated Students Inc., CSUSB & 2024 Winner).
Rising from IGLTA Foundation intern to Program Manager in less than four years, Amine leads international fellowships, educational programs, and the TUI Futureshapers Global: LGBTQIA+ Travel Innovators Program, providing mentorship and business development skills to LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs in emerging destinations. His research, including “How the Private Sector Can Drive LGBTQ+ Tourism Development in Emerging Destinations” and “Caribbean Kaleidoscope: A Journey into LGBTQ+ Travel,” has shaped industry practices, and speaking English, Arabic, and French allows him to build bridges across cultures while championing underrepresented voices in global tourism conversations.
As CEO & Founder of VisitAble LLC, Joe created the only accessibility training company that successfully scales empathy-based, self-paced training covering all disability types within destinations, evidenced by training 2,200 people in the Richmond region in one year. He speaks at industry events and partners with major associations to change mindsets and raise awareness, pursuing multiple sectors of the travel industry including tour operators and guides, with digestible, scalable training that makes an impact across almost all employees of every organization or location he works with.
Nicolas organized the CTO Regional Nex-Gen Tourism Showcase for the Caribbean Tourism Organization, a regional youth initiative focused on tertiary level students creating business proposals for tourism businesses by linking different sectors across the Caribbean, demonstrating leadership in developing the next generation of tourism professionals and fostering cross-sector collaboration in the region.
Through his initiative Green Disability, Puneet has built a community of 1,200+ disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill individuals across the Global South, using storytelling and participatory methods to highlight how climate change and inaccessibility intersect with travel barriers. Born in a Delhi slum and navigating multiple non-apparent disabilities—dyslexia, dyspraxia, and stammering—he has organized workshops, dialogues, and campaigns that amplify marginalized voices and push institutions to design inclusive systems, earning recognition from Forbes, the Commonwealth, and international networks while advocating for discoverability: the right for all people to be seen, heard, and able to move freely in society.
As Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group and Founding Member of the Keshav Suri Foundation, Akshay has hired over 200 transgender persons, 500+ queer team members, 300+ people with disabilities, and 30 acid attack warriors across roles while making The Lalit the first hotel chain globally to receive IGLTA accreditation. He has led the IGLTA India LGBTQ+ Travel Symposiums (2022–2025), won 27 awards in three years for organizational inclusion, received 5 National Awards for accessibility, and earned recognition as APCOM Hero Award recipient and Trans Ally Award winner while training thousands of hospitality professionals across India.
Category Judges
Josh Heinz (Community Engagement Manager, Visit Greater Palm Springs), Romey Louangvilay (Co-Founder & Head of Communications, ELMNTL), and Shayna Walker (Global Head of ED+I, Tripadvisor).
Since 2007, Global Glimpse’s Equity in Travel Model has served 9,700+ students and 700+ educators with $15M in scholarships, creating intentionally diverse student cohorts where 83% identify as BIPOC and 83% come from families earning $70,000 or less. Their innovative partnerships with United Airlines, Away, Expedia, and Marriott demonstrate how the tourism sector can take tangible steps toward inclusion, with 98% of students building meaningful relationships across racial, cultural, and socioeconomic lines through mixed-background travel groups.
The Richmond Region Tourism Foundation’s OutRVA program has promoted the Richmond Region as a welcoming LGBTQ+ destination for over 10 years, organizing the third annual Dine Out for Pride in June 2025 with approximately 30 restaurants raising $2,180 for Diversity Richmond’s Virginia Pride Program. The program maintains a dedicated website, active social media presence, and newsletter curated by LGBTQ-owned creative agency Big Spoon Co., serves as presenting sponsor for VA Pridefest (the state’s largest LGBTQ+ festival) for the third year in 2025, and was created through collaboration with a committee of LGBTQ individuals to profile local LGBTQ+ people and affirming businesses.
As a woman-led buy-side platform under Direct Digital Holdings the ninth Black-owned company to go public — Orange 142 combined data-driven precision with creative storytelling to help destination marketing organizations reach diverse travelers through award-winning campaigns spanning search engine marketing, social media, display advertising, and website design. Their measurable, replicable strategies having increased visitation and boosted local economies for DMOs of all sizes, with a commitment to inclusive and authentic representation that ensures messaging resonates with audiences across demographics while supporting destinations as must-visit hotspots.
The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group became the first hotel chain globally to receive IGLTA accreditation for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, training over 2,000 employees in DEI and LGBTQIA+ sensitization while creating employment opportunities for 200+ marginalized individuals through their ‘Love For All’ initiative. Named among India’s Top 10 Employers for LGBTQIA+ inclusion at IWEI 2024, they offer scholarships to LGBTQ+ students at The Lalit Suri Hospitality School since 2019 and organize Pride Month events including filmmaking workshops, art residencies for queer artists, and awareness walks on inclusive practices in hospitality.
Ranked India’s 5th Best Company to Work For in 2025, ITC Hotels Limited operates under its Responsible Luxury ethos with robust DEIB mechanisms, employing People with Disability, Veterans, and diverse socio-cultural backgrounds while preserving Indian culture through locally-sourced ingredients and indigenous artisan partnerships. The chain holds the world’s highest number of USGBC LEED Platinum certifications (23), operates the world’s first 12 LEED Zero Carbon and 9 LEED Zero Water hotels, and has exceeded COP21-aligned 2030 sectoral emission targets for five consecutive years while investing in training marginalized youth through institutional partnerships.
Category Judges
Dr. Vincie Ho (Founder & Executive Director, RISE Travel Institute), Dr. Edwin Gómez (Professor, East Carolina University), and Dr. Juan Madera (Professor, University of Houston & 2024 Winner).
Dr. Jamgade’s doctoral research on “Promotion of Sustainable Economic Ecotourism in Rural Areas of Nagpur District, India” presents a holistic framework integrating environmental sustainability with social inclusivity. Her work demonstrates how participatory planning, equitable revenue-sharing models, and culturally sensitive tourism experiences benefit marginalized local communities, indigenous groups, and women stakeholders. Furthermore, she has mentored undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students to focus on local people employability and inclusivity in ecotourism.
Emily’s doctoral thesis at Griffith University empowers people with disability to thrive in the tourism and hospitality sector through an emancipatory research paradigm employing innovative participatory methodologies, notably Photovoice. Her research extends Fraser’s theory of social justice into tourism and hospitality contexts, critically analyzing 490 tourism policy and planning documents to reveal systemic neglect of disability workforce issues, and proposing a conceptual model of thriving at work specific to people with disability that challenges conventional workplace norms.
Dr. Vongvisitsin’s groundbreaking research applies social identity theory and queer ethnographic paradigms to uncover the experiences of LGBTIQ+ individuals in diverse Asian contexts, challenging, Western-centric narratives and developing innovative frameworks including a sexual and gender normativities model of servicescapes and the first systematic multi-country survey of transgender medical tourism intention. Her work bridges, academia and practice through the Inclusive Tourism Asia campaign, workshops with industry professionals globally, collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and representing RFSL at the UN Human Rights Council to address issues of arbitrary immigration detention of trans, non-binary and gender-diverse travelers.
The Tourism For All NZ Research Group at Auckland University of Technology, co-led by Dr. Gillovic and Professor McIntosh, is New Zealand’s only dedicated tourism research group conducting academic and applied research in partnership with the industry stakeholders and the disability community. Their work affirms the citizenship rights of people with disabilities and those living with chronic or terminal illness to participate fully in tourism, using academically rigorous, co-creative methodology and challenging ableist assumptions in scholarship to drive social change for a more inclusive tourism world.
Anna Abelson and Dr. Olena Ciftci
Allie Bahn
Title/Organization: Founder, Educator, and Consultant, Miss Allergic Reactor
Website: https://missallergicreactor.com/
Reasons for Nomination: I have dedicated my work to making travel more inclusive for the 33 million Americans and over 220 million individuals living with food allergies worldwide, which is an often-overlooked accessibility need. Through Miss Allergic Reactor, my consultation services, freelance writing and a community of over 60K travelers on multiple platforms, I empower individuals and families to explore the world with confidence. I also partner with destinations, resorts, and brands to advocate for systemic change, helping the industry recognize food allergies as an inclusion issue. By combining personal experience with professional expertise, I’ve inspired thousands to not let fear stop them, while working to advance a more inclusive vision of travel.
Links/Media:
Miss Allergic Reactor Website – Founder of Miss Allergic Reactor, a trusted resource since 2008 for traveling with food allergies, featuring guides, tips, and personal stories.
https://missallergicreactor.com
Allergic Living – Travel Expert, News Contributor, and Instagram Collaborations– Featured as a travel expert for Allergic Living, sharing practical advice and inclusive travel strategies in articles, as well as creating educational stories and reels offering allergy-safe travel tips, reaching thousands of viewers.
https://www.allergicliving.com/author/allie-bahn/
and
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DC1ilvaJOwh/
Healthline Partnership – Video campaign collaboration sharing food allergy travel insights with a global health audience.
https://www.healthline.com/health/video/food-allergies-stories-and-facts#1
Facebook Community Leadership – Founder of an engaged 25K+ member group supporting allergy travelers worldwide.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/allergytravels
Conference Speaking Engagements – Presenter at national food allergy conferences on topics including content creation, authenticity, and inclusive travel.
Consultations & Courses – Creator of 1:1 allergy travel consultations and digital courses helping individuals and families travel safely and confidently.
https://missallergicreactor.com/individualized-consulting-sessions/
Instagram Platform – Active social media presence sharing authentic allergy travel tips, stories and resources with an engaged audience.
https://www.instagram.com/miss_allergic_reactor/
Additional Information: For over 15 years, I’ve worked to bridge the gap between the food allergy community and the travel industry, ensuring that people with life-threatening allergies are included in the broader conversation around accessibility. What began as sharing my personal experiences abroad has grown into a global platform, professional consultation services, and collaborations with destinations, brands, and organizations. My mission has always been to show that food allergies should never be a barrier to safe, enriching travel. By combining personal lived experience with professional expertise, I continue to push for an industry where all travelers are seen, supported, and welcomed. Thank you for your consideration!
*Finalists were determined by an internal panel of judges, using the below rubric:
Alignment with Inclusive Practices (15 points):
Impact (15 points):
Innovation (15 points):
2024 Outstanding Academic Research Award
“for his research focusing on DEI in the hospitality and tourism section”
2024 Community Impact Award
“promotes DEI in the travel and fashion industries”
2024 Applied DEI Champion Award
“advocates for marginalized communities in travel”
2024 Outstanding Organizational Initiative Award
“promotes inclusive tourism, ensuring the industry benefits all community members”
2024 Youth Award
“advocates for inclusivity in travel, impacting his university and beyond”
2024 Director Appreciation Award
“for his role in founding Travel Unity and his years of dedicated service to its mission”
