IMPACT REPORT 2024
2024 was a very exciting year for everyone at Invisible Cities!
We welcomed thousands of people on our tours, trained new people, had new guides join our team and received incredible coverage nationally and internationally, helping us spread the word about our work and stories
It is now a full year since we launched Invisible Cities in Cardiff and we are very proud of our three guides in the city, including Larysa who made it her home after leaving the Ukraine Her tour is a great example of how we want to diversify the stories we tell
It has not been without challenges as we continue to grow, we have found it harder than expected to fully be running in the Scottish Borders and relaunch our activities in Liverpool But as we continue learning and creating meaningful partnerships with organisations in the public, private and third sectors we continue changing the narrative when it comes to homelessness in the UK and around the world
We are all very excited for the new year to come, with some of our objectives being carried over through 2025 and with new plans being drafted so we can continue working with people in our existing cities and in new ones too!
We could not do our work without the support of our sponsors, customers, funders and partners and I would like to thank them for embarking on this journey with us Invisible Cities is a result of true collaboration and passion from everyone including our staff, guides and volunteers
I can’t wait to see what 2025 brings and I am absolutely delighted to present this impact report on all the amazing things we have accomplished in 2024
Zakia Moulaoui Guery, Founder and CEO
our year in numbers
5 new guides employed
5941 guests on tours
3 new industry awards
18 trainees*
Thats 145 people trained to date
3+ Million views online
37 presentations delivered
3 new volunteers/ mentors
A world where people are given the opportunity to be everything they want to be, no matter where they come from or where they live
our mission
To use the cities we are in as backgrounds to create a space where tourists and locals can engage in a meaningful way with people who have experienced homelessness
OUR APPROACH
To offer high quality training for people who have experienced homelessness to gain confidence, self-esteem and transferable skills
To offer opportunities for people to engage in a positive environment and shift from "service users" to "actors of their communities"
To provide real development opportunities to people, no matter where they want to go
Our Theory of Change
We train guides on transferrable skills and employ them to deliver tours We organise visits to world class venues and organisations so they can learn about their cities
We work one-on one with people to provide them with opportunities to move reach positive opportunities
We raise awareness of homelessness and break down the stigma that exists around it
We educate on our cities and our guides, talking about some of the issues that they are facing
We organise events and campaigns in our communities to support people who are not ready for training yet.
We organise free tours so people who cannot afford them can still discover our cities in a unique way. We distribute care packages and deliver items in our communities to bring dignity to people, even if it is temporarily
We speak at events and meet with stakeholders so we can build a more inclusive tourism and hospitality industry
THE IMPACT FOR OUR INDUSTRY
We organise our own events to engage with the travel industry and discuss how we can make it more sustainable and with people in mind
changing perceptions through our tours
After each tour, guests are asked to leave a review online and answer a short questionnaire about their experience This is what they said in 2024:
“Our Guide” “The interaction with our guide”
100% would recommend us to a friend
90% changed their perception of homelessness- the rest felt they already knew about it!
“How personal it felt” “Being shown something new”
“The stories we heard” “Our guide’s knowledge” 67% of people completing our training applied to become guides! what they have achieved since training with us!
What guests preferred!
Growing and providing new opportunities
Some of the reasons people joined our training!
I feel grateful that Invisible Cities have given me the chance to be i position to achieve my goals: personal and professional!
Our tours and customers
Our tours are designed by our guides and delivered to travelers and locals alike. We also design specific tours for some of our clients (groups and corporates)
Some of our corporate and group customers:
We designed special tours for:
Client Highlight: Cashel Travel
In October we worked with UK based DMC (Destination Management Company) Cashel Travel on one of their conferences in Edinburgh They involved Invisible Cities throughout their multi-day event, maximising the impact they could have with their group. This included:
Organising walking tours on Day 1 & 2 of their conference so delegates could discover Edinburgh!
Hiring our team to act as “Welcome Staff and Stewards” in the city. This enabled some of our team, who are not yet able to deliver tours, to gain employment and provide directions to delegates.
Scheduling our founder Zakia as a key note speaker during their conference so delegates could hear our story and ethos.
Making Invisible Cities the recipient of their silent auction donations!
Donating unused stationary post event as well as fresh flowers (u o they could be redistributed in the community!
Free community tours
In each of our cities, we offer tours or presentations by our guides and team free of charge to fellow social enterprises, charities, community groups or individuals who otherwise would not be able to afford them but could benefit from hearing our stories
people have come on a free tour or presentation in 2024
Some of the organisations we organised tours for:
In Edinburgh, these tours are funded by through their Meet with Purpose programme. When groups book meeting space/catering and other services in their Edinburgh hotel, they add a donation to Invisible Cities to organise tours free of charge
Since its inception in 2022, this programme has enabled for over
1000 people to come on free tours of the city
Community in action: Meet me in Govan
Meet me in Govan is a community project we started in Govan, Glasgow two years ago, with the support of Govan Community Project. We run a weekly walking group that brings people together, promoting well-being and community development in a lively, interactive setting Each walk- delivered on Thursday mornings- is built around six key themes that rotate regularly: housing, work, culture, community, youth and education, immigration and languages, and sports and well-being
These walks are delivered by our Glasgow guide Angie and are part of the Paths for All health walks network, which promotes accessible, group walking in local areas
654 To date people have participated in a meet me in govan walk!
Meet me in Govan is all about collaboration as we welcome people from various organisations, and community groups so they can walk with Angie The project embodies our ambition to make people discover unknown parts of the city, or if they are local to Govan, rediscover the area
From 2025, we hope to be able to extend the project to other parts of Glasgow and replicate it in some of our other cities
Over the last two years, Meet me in Govan has been kindly supported by:
the support we provide our guides
As well as providing direct employment to our guides (we are a living wage employer) we also work with everyone so they can access positive opportunities, including volunteering, employment, wellbeing and more. This support is different for everyone, depending on needs and what our guides, trainees and supported volunteers ask!
This has included:
Support with administration Accessing Services
Attending appointments
Preparing for interviews
Promoting Diverse stories
As our tours are designed by our guides themselves, they promote stories that are unique and personal They can include thought-provoking topics or parts of our cities’ past that are often overlooked. Here are a couple of examples of tours we developed in 2024:
Black History in Cardiff
To celebrate Black History Month, guides in Cardiff worked on a special tour of the city, highlighting figures of our past that contributed to a fairer and more diverse community!
Feminist tour of Manchester
Manchester is considered as the birth place of the Sufragette mouvement In 2024 we developed a walking tour of Feminist Manchester explaining why!
Helping our guides achieve their dreams
Following on the example of our Manchester guide Danny who published his own collection of poems in 2019, Vikki in York also published her very own book in 2024
Based on her personal story and how it intertwines with the story of Guy Fawkes, the book is available to buy in our e-shop!
At Invisible Cities we support every trainee and guide achieve their goals, whether they are related to tours or not We take pride in our accomplishments and celebrate everyone’s hard work!
Crisis - Changing lives Grant Programme
We are incredibly proud to be partnering with homelessness charity CRISIS so that all the people we support can access life changing grants! Through their Changing Lives Grant programme, our trainees, guides and anyone else we support can apply for grants to:
Start their own business
Access courses and other educational opportunities
Access employment or remove barriers to employment
Work on personal projects
During our first year of partnership, people have received funding for:
IT equipment to be better guides Fees and materials for short-term courses
Their new businesses’ websites, social media channels and marketing
Project highlight:Invisible Ciies Talks
In 2024 we also launched Invisible Cities’ own podcast: Invisible Cities Talks!
The aim of this project is multiple:
Support our guides in developing new skills in the digital world They are part of the research and recording process, acting as co-hosts of the podcast.
Highlight themes of social justice, sustainable tourism and social entrepreneurship in a new format for our existing audience and supporters.
Reach out new potential supporters, customers or collaborators using this new format
So far we have covered the themes of Homelessness and Mental Health Awareness and have plans to discuss Sustainable Travel in Season 3!
The Invisible Cities Talks Podcast is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund Programme.
Two seasons live so far 8 Episodes
160 Unique Downloads Available on 10 platforms
our own events
As well as attending many industry events, we have started organising our own! In Glasgow, we identified there was a need for networking events for staff, volunteers and anyone interested in social change and third sector connections So far we have:
Organised a total of 8 events with 118 unique attendees, inviting guest speakers to talk about their field of expertise. The University of Glasgow is supporting us by hosting these events.
I am delighted to organise these networking events in Glasgow, where non-profit organisations come together to connect and build new relationships. Networking is so important in this sector, and this year, it truly showed its value – some of our Glasgow trainees joined after their support workers attended and recommended our training. It’s a wonderful example of the positive impact these events can have."
Michaela-
Invisible Cities Team
bringing sustainability to others: flowers and recycling
Through the year, we also supported some of our corporate customers with collecting and redistributing some of the fresh flowers used at gala dinners We have been able to make and deliver 161 small bouquets in Edinburgh
Doing Tourism Differently
We have also collected and re-used stationary and goodie bag items from some of our customers’ events
We also hosted our first in-person Doing Tourism Differently event, discussing sustainability in travel and tourism. In a room full of event professionals, accommodation and activity providers, we focused on best practices when it comes to travel and events Themes discussed included diversity, accessibility and data collecting amongst other things
Thank you to the sponsors of this event: The Bruntsfield Hotel, Trainsplit and The Edinburgh City Pass!
changing the narrative through media and social media coverage
We have been featured on local, national and international media which has helped us spread our mission and message of breaking down the stigma that exists around homelessness to more than 3 million people.
Awards & recognition in our industry
We have also received indutsry recognition through new awards:
Social Purpose/Community Engagement Award at the Arival Spotlight Awards 2024
Diversity and Inclusion Excellence Award at the Tourism Innovation Summit 2024
Our Founder was named Traveler of the Year by National Geographic for their Best in Travel list
what we are looking forward to in 2025
As we enter a new year, we are very excited to continue working in all our cities as well as develop our activities in the Scottish Borders and Liverpool and create new peartnerships to help us along the way!
We will also take our event Doing Tourism Differently on the road and hope to organise more of these in different UK cities!
