Appointment of women on board positions is one of diversity management initiatives in firm. This study theoretically examines the impact of board gender diversity in tourism firms. Then, it analyzes the determinants for such diversity in case of airlines and airports in Europe. Female directors are expected to have more access to different resources which contribute to reduced uncertainty stemming from close relation with external environment and strong interdependency with other industries. Furthermore, internationally diversified customers and frequent interaction and contact with them in tourism firms make female directors important. According to the regression analysis, airlines and airports in the country where culture attaches importance to value associated with female gender tend to have higher percentage of women in the board of directors. Larger airlines and airports have more incentives for board gender diversity. Government quota requiring the certain percentage of women in the board of directors may encourage airlines and airports to pursue board gender diversity more actively. On the other hand, the study does not offer the evidence to support the importance of the size and the degree of inbound tourism as factor of such diversity.
