From Zakia Moulaoui, founder and CEO of Invisible Cities.
When Invisible Cities was set up eight years ago, it was with the aim of supporting the people who most often feel disconnected from the benefits tourism can bring to a city. Our work, training people who have experienced homelessness to become walking tour guides of their cities, aims to provide this connection, along with helping them overcome any isolation, stigma or prejudice they may have faced or be facing. Valuing our own employees is the foundation to creating this supportive environment, and the real Living Wage is at the core of that ethos.
Our work in Scotland, currently running across Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Scottish Borders, has different layers. Some of our trainees are at a stage where they are simply looking for more social connections or wanting to work on their confidence and storytelling skills. Becoming employed can seem like a distant goal, which is fine by us. Everyone is welcome to attend our training and decide later what the next steps are for them.
We also have people ready to be employed, who are exploring the possibility of becoming guides, and who can accomplish this with a little training in confidence and customer service.
Finally, we have those who are absolutely passionate about becoming tour guides, and for whom the dream is to be independent guides, whether in one city or throughout the whole of Scotland.
Over our eight years in business, we have trained 150 people to achieve these goals. We are confident that everyone can find something for them in the activities and programs we run. Investing in people having the right skills for our sector and thriving tourism industry is incredibly important and providing informal, friendly opportunities to do this is important if we want to recruit people from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.
It’s because of the importance of our work that we care about providing the best working conditions and benefits possible, including paying a real Living Wage. Our guests and customers value this commitment too: many people appreciate what the Living Wage means, and value the opportunity to support it. Other guests, visiting from further away, are interested in what it means. We’ve been glad to facilitate conversations on it in the past and look forward to doing so in the future.
Being a Living Wage employer is part of our identity, and we will stay committed to it for as long as we are in operation.
Zakia will be a speaker at the Scottish Borders Living Wage Action Group this month. Book now to join her for a morning of insightful conversation, practical guidance, and powerful networking.
Invisible Cities is an award-winning social enterprise that trains people who have experienced homelessness to become tour guides of their own city. After launching in Scotland in 2016, they now operate in 6 locations in the UK (Edinburgh, Glasgow, The Scottish borders, Manchester, York and Cardiff). They run walking tours all year round and were awarded Best Community Tour in the world by Lonely Planet in 2021 and have received support from National Geographic amongst others.