Arnie Weissmann: Even without laryngitis, TW’s Atlantic City event might have left me speechless. 10
IN OTHER NEWS:
6
15
65
Richard Turen:
Take a little time to ponder the
wild, the weird and the wonder-
ful in the travel industry. 64
www.travelweekly.com
THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
NOVEMBER 1, 2010
[ 23-YEAR QUEST TO GO PUBLIC ]
For NCL, course
to IPO has been
long, frustrating
By Johanna Jainchill
See IPO on Page 67
After years of flirting with the idea,
Norwegian Cruise Line last week
filed documents with the U.S. Se-
curities and Exchange Commission
to take the company public.
NCL’s parent company, NCL Corp., said
Tuesday that it would make an initial public
offering of $250 million in stock, if approved
by the SEC.
The cruise company submitted the S-1, the
SEC document a company is required to file
before making an initial public offering, less
than an hour after releasing a third-quarter
earnings statement reporting $93 million in
net income and just one day after placing an
order for two, 4,000-passenger ships.
The SEC will review the S-1 before decid-
ing to approve or deny the request.
If approved, NCL would likely announce
its IPO in early 2011 and send its executives
on what is called a “road show” to explain the
company’s value to banks and investors.
The course the third-largest cruise com-
pany has followed to an IPO has been long
planned but frustratingly elusive.
Rod McLeod, a former NCL executive and
now a consultant with McLeod Applebaum
Mexico
‘You have some U.S. networks that almost have a news report every day about something negative in Mexico.’ — Mark Noennig, Apple Vacations { { ‘If the brand is being damaged right now because of the nega- tive publicity, it is our obligation to clean up that tarnish.’ — Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, Mexico Tourism Board {
{
ROUNDTABLE
On the occasion of the recent Travel Weekly Mexico City Leadership Forum 2010, execu- tives from airlines, hotels, tour operators and the Mexico Tourism Board gathered for a breakfast roundtable at the St. Regis Mexico City hotel to discuss the state of travel and
tourism south of the border.
During the roundtable, moderated by
Travel Weekly Destinations and Special
Supplements Editor Kenneth Kiesnos-
ki, participants tackled hot topics
such as safety, handling negative
publicity, sustainable growth,
affordability, airlift and com-
petitiveness.
The original transcript
has been edited for
length and flow.
TRAVEL WEEKLY: It’s been a tough couple
of years for travel and tourism. Does Mex-
ico have any advantages or disadvantages,
given the recent climate, compared with
competing destinations such as Hawaii
and the Caribbean? And how has Mexico
been performing for you?
MARK NOENNIG, vice president and
general manager, Apple Vacations: The
advantages of Mexico are customer satisfac-
tion and value. We have seen, over the past
five years, great growth for Mexico, and the
reason for that is the great value it provides.
It has great product, and customers love it
and come back. The challenge, I think, that
we all are having on this side is the negative
publicity: the media out there talking about
things in Mexico. I think the brand of Mex-
ico is being hurt by this, and we’re definitely
seeing some shift, [but] not a major shift.
TW: Anne, what’s your take,
as a travel agent selling
Mexico?
See ROUNDTABLE
on Page 18
[ ‘BAREFOOT THINK TANK’ ]
Agent mind-meld a surprise highlight of TW conference
MORE CONFERENCE
COVERAGE
By Bill Poling
ATLANTIC CITY — A theory was put to
the test here last week and proved itself to be
true, with the help of about 75 travel agents
attending Travel Weekly’s Home Based Trav-
el Agent Show and Conference and Leisure
World 2010 trade shows.
The theory? That when it comes to certain
aspects of running a business, working at
home, dealing with clients or understanding
technology, agents learn best from each other.
• Travel42 itinerary builder
harnesses hotel and destination
info from Star and Weissmann 6
• President’s Panel: Upbeat
predictions from top execs to
travel agents 66
