Previous research has underlined gendered labour issues and provided recommendations for organisations to advance gender equality within the tourism and hospitality sector. Yet, little is known about how academic research has been translated into actual practice by tourism organisations. The study provides a pragmatic systematic review to compare tourism academic and grey literature from NGOs and large public tourism companies, with an aim of identifying gaps between academia and industry, and between rhetoric and practice. The analyses of 102 academic and 122 grey literature revealed that both types of literature lack focus on the cultural and individual dimensions of gendering process while explicitly focus on the organising system and developed economies. The review highlights insufficient details of company report and calls for developing concrete regulation or standard to measure and report gender equality practice in tourism. This review contributes to knowledge by charting the development of academic research in real-life situations to achieve equitable and sustainable workplace for both women and men in tourism.