I’m passionate about
good tourism.
Meet Lily
Lebawit Lily Girma is an award-winning Ethiopian American travel journalist, editor and consultant with more than 15 years of experience in sustainable tourism storytelling for major publications and content strategy for tourism boards and brands. Currently she is a travel reporter at Bloomberg Pursuits, the luxury lifestyle arm of Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek.
Lily’s writing and photography have appeared in numerous digital and print travel publications over the yars, including Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Businessweek, BBC Travel, Skift, Condé Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveller, Travel + Leisure, AFAR, Sierra Magazine and Moon Travel Guides.
Lily’s journey in the travel industry started in 2008 when she ditched her law office for the road and headed to the Caribbean, where she found rich and immersive cultural experiences—away from all inclusive resorts—that travel magazines weren’t covering at the time.
Her extensive experience living abroad in eight countries and her keen analytical skills and knowledge of the travel industry’s inner workings have led to her award-winning stories that highlight critical issues in global tourism. She brings a consumer and business lens to her work, which unapologetically prioritizes sustainable tourism angles amid global trends, as well as equity and inclusion in travel.
Not least is Lily’s multicultural background—born in Ethiopia, raised in Cote d'Ivoire and educated on three continents—which underpins her passion for equity and sustainability in travel, and for telling the stories that remain untold.
Among her recent wins: Authoring Bloomberg News’ first-ever monthly column on conscious tourism—called the “Better Travel Bureau”—which kicked off in May 2024 and examines the business of making tourism more equitable, more inclusive and less harmful to the environment.
In 2024, Lily served as Executive-in-Residence at Cornell University’s Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, collaborating on media outreach and training a cohort of journalists around the world on incorporating sustainable tourism and destination management principles in reporting and storytelling.
Lily is a sought out speaker at industry events and has moderated panels and presented at numerous events, including WTM Africa, Bloomberg City Lab, ITB Berlin, and Skift Global Forum.
She has been a guest lecturer in a responsible tourism marketing class at George Washington University’s International Institute of Tourism Studies, and is the recipient of multiple awards—most recently, a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award and a North American Travel Journalist Award, all of which are in the sustainability and DEI categories.
Lily holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia Law, a Certificate in Sustainable Tourism Destination Management from Cornell University and a Professional Certificate in Sustainable Tourism from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.