Luxury cruise company Celebrity Cruises, in collaboration with Annie Leibowitz and other photographers, is launching a new campaign to make the travel industry more inclusive. A free-to-use, open-source travel image library promises to represent a more diverse selection of people including those with disabilities, from ethnic minorities and from the LGBTQIA+ community.
The All-Inclusive Photo Project (AIPP) is calling on travel companies to make marketing campaigns more inclusive. Currently there is not a fair representation of people who travel in marketing materials, and the luxury cruise company is on a mission to change that. Some of the biggest names in photography have joined forces to photograph models, musicians, athletes, artists, advocates, activists and refugees enjoying cruise ship life.
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"For far too long, ‘all-inclusive’ in the travel industry has meant everything on your vacation is included in one price," said Lisa Lutoff-Pelo, Celebrity Cruises CEO. "We set out to challenge this conventional thinking by imagining the phrase through the lens of others."
Joining Annie Leibovitz to create this unique image library is Giles Duley, an English documentary photographer and triple amputee; Naima Green, a black, queer New York-based photographer; and Jarrad Seng, a Malaysian-Chinese photographer, filmmaker, and creative director based in Australia.
Last year, Celebrity Cruises launched a global advertising campaign, Journey WonderFULL, that marked a distinct, bold new approach for the luxury travel brand. While this marked the first step to more inclusive marketing, Celebrity Cruises has always endeavored to be a catalyst for change in the industry, and in 2015 launched an initiative to attract more women to maritime careers.
Since then Kate McCue was appointed the first female American Captain, the first West African woman was appointed to work on the bridge of a ship, and in 2020 history was made when an all-female Bridge and leadership team worked on board. The company recently announced that 32% of the brand's bridge officers are women, same-sex marriages have happened out at sea and they put on the largest Pride Party out at sea.
This new initiative shows a real dedication to making the travel industry a more inclusive place. As one of the leading names in cruise travel, Royal Caribbean Cruises (Celebrity Cruise's parent company) will hopefully also influence smaller brands to include a more diverse array of people in future marketing strategies.
To see a selection of images from The All Inclusive Photo Project, scroll below.
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