INTRODUCTION
People reach the age of 50, or ought to, with some combination of pride and humility, perhaps mixed with a heightened awareness of what really matters.
In that spirit, we present Travel Weekly’s 50th anniversary issue — with a
mixture of pride and
humility, and with the
hope that a brief look
at the past can help us
understand what really
matters.
Travel Weekly’s
founder, Irwin Rob-
inson, introduced the
publication’s 25th anniversary issue in 1983
with some observations
about how the industry
had changed since 1958
when Travel Weekly began. He concluded that those 25
years demonstrated “how radically an industry’s sense
of values can swing from one extreme to another.”
One could look in vain for a better way to describe
the first 25 years of the jet age — or, for that matter,
the 25 years that followed.
Robbie, as he was always known, was equally insight-
ful when he declared in 1983 that the industry was on
the threshold of “another era of significant change
which may turn out to be equally revolutionary in the
way travel is bought and sold.”
It turned out that the changes in travel distribution
over the next 25 years were mirrored by equally revolutionary changes in the ways that Travel Weekly gathered news and information and delivered it to readers.
The technology of newspapering in 1958 revolved
around typewriters and telephones. And the basic elements of our printing presses — lead type, ink, rollers
and paper — would have been familiar to Ben Franklin.
Things were not much different in 1983.
But as that decade progressed, computers increasingly found their way into the news business, just as
they found their way into life and travel, gradually replacing typewriters, pencils, scissors, glue and much else besides.
To report on a hearing or press conference in 1958, a Travel Weekly reporter would
grab notebook and pencil, hop in a taxi and note the locations of the pay phones as he or
she arrived at the event.
A travel agent of the day would use the same tools, telephone and note pad, to guide a
client through a railroad or steamship timetable or an Official Airline Guide.
Today, news events are frequently Webcast, often reaching our readers at the same time
they reach us, a form of disintermediation that increases the pressure on today’s news
media to enhance the news with art, graphics, analysis
and commentary.
In the same way, news of travel products and prices
often reach consumers just as they reach retailers, requiring agents to add value with counseling and expertise.
Technology has also changed the way consumers
and businesses use and react to news and information. With the advent of the Internet, Travel Weekly,
like many print publications, has become a media
platform, delivering daily news bulletins by e-mail
and directing readers to enhanced content on an increasingly interactive Web site.
Our mission has always been to serve as the newspaper of the travel industry, a mission that has
changed as the industry changed.
What has not changed is our commitment to understanding what matters to our readers. In 1958, that
meant the proceedings of airline conferences, the rise
and fall of airline fares, the availability of packages,
the comings and goings of steamships.
Today’s coverage ranges over a broader field of issues because the industry has embraced a broader
range of concerns. Today’s travel professionals tell us
they thrive on news of supplier strategies; compet-
ing distribution channels; and economic and social
trends, including environmental issues and how they
weigh upon the choices that consumers make.
Since its inception, Travel Weekly has published
some 4,200 issues and countless supplements and
special editions, plus thousands of ever-changing
Web pages.
Our writers and editors have been just about everywhere, from the polar ice to the equator, from under
water to the upper atmosphere where the Concorde
soared, from air-conditioned hearing rooms to disaster sites. We have toured and trekked and written and
photographed for 50 years.
Time and space do not permit a comprehensive
retelling of that history. What follows is a sampler. Not every trend or controversy is
mentioned; not every hero is remembered. But we hope to have included a representative
series of snapshots from our first 50 years that will enlighten and entertain and whet our
appetites, and yours, for 50 more.
E-mail: To contact most Travel Weekly staffers,
type their first initial and last name, followed by
@ travelweekly.com.
Phone (headquarters): (201) 902-2000
Fax (headquarters): (201) 902-2034
Vice President/Editor in Chief:
Arnie Weissmann
Editor: Rob Fixmer
Managing Editor: Rebecca Tobin
Editor/News & Opinion:
Bill Poling (202) 429-9030; Fax (202)
429-9054
Deputy Managing Editor:
Gerry Bourbeau
Managing Editor/Supplements:
Margaret Myre
Editor/Destinations:
Kenneth Kiesnoski
Creative Director:
Kent M.C. Lau
Senior Editors:
Michelle Baran (Tour Operators)
Jeri Clausing (Hotels & Hospitality)
(720) 379-8123
Johanna Jainchill (Cruise, Alaska)
Dan Luzadder (Technology) (303) 679-2957
Gay Nagle Myers (Caribbean)
Kimberly Scholz (Familiarization Trips)
Editors at Large:
Lester Craft (310) 954-2506
Nadine Godwin (Retail) (212) 452-7819
Copy Editor:
Eric Moya
Editorial Assistant:
Theresa Bednarczyk
Art Directors:
Romina Paludi, Thoralf Tollefsen
Designers: Thomas Lechleiter, William
Welcher
Creative Consultant: J.C. Suarès
Contributing Editors:
Dean Blaine, Mark Chesnut, Harvey Chipkin,
Laura Del Rosso, Bob Joselyn, Felicity Long,
Kristin O’Meara Hillmann, Joe Rosen,
Tim Ryan, Jorge Sidron, Richard Turen
TRAVELWEEKLY.COM:
Editorial Director: Lester Craft
Web Editor: Jerry Limone
Managing Editor: Kimberly Scholz
Web Services Manager: Linda Buchanan
Web Administrator: Karen Nyland
Electronic Products Manager:
Neal Tornopsky
Production Supervisor:
Michele M. Garth
Production Specialists:
Adrian Carbunescu, Lisa Gonzales
Group Circulation Director:
Simon Young
Production Director:
Robert Brai
Travel Weekly Marketing:
Marketing Manager:
Kathryn Noval
Marketing Assistant:
Ashley Jobe
Manager, Custom Publishing:
Michaela Siegrist
Editor, Custom Publishing:
Erin Etheridge
Graphic Designer, Custom
Publishing: Alissa Rea Williams
Market Research Analysts:
Felisha Davis, Julius Cave
SALES:
Vice President/Publisher:
Bob Sullivan
Phone: (201) 902-1956; Fax: (201) 902-1971
Associate Publisher:
Bruce Shulman
Phone: (561) 799-1788; Fax: (561) 799-1731
Regional Advertising Sales Manager:
Barbara Friedman
CT, MA, ME, MD, NJ, NYC, RI, VT
Phone: (201) 902-1934; Fax: (201) 902-2041
Regional Advertising Sales Manager:
Shari Weinstein
DC, LI, NYC, NY, OH, VA, WV
Phone: (201) 902-1936; Fax: (201) 902-2041
Regional Advertising Sales Manager:
Hazel Jane Lyons
Caribbean, Bermuda
Phone: (201) 902-1992; Fax: (201) 902-2041
Regional Advertising Sales Manager:
Rachel Gutierrez
CA, ID, M T, OR WY
Phone: (310) 954-2508; Fax: (310) 954-2504
Regional Advertising Sales Manager:
Edward Connolly
AK, AZ, CA, NM, NV, UT, WA
Phone: (310) 954-2532; Fax: (310) 954-2504
Regional Advertising Sales Manager:
Seth Carpien
Mid-West, CO
Phone: (336) 714 3310 ; Fax: (336) 896-0555
Regional Advertising Sales Manager:
Cindy Hanson
FL, GA, NC, SC
Phone: (336) 714-3156; Fax: (336) 896-0555
Regional Advertising Sales Manager:
Helena Egan
U.K., Belgium, Luxembourg, Eastern
Mediterranean, Ireland, Russia, Czech
Republic, the Netherlands
Phone: (011) 44-7714 765-154
Fax: (011) 44-20 8695-0757
E-mail: hegan@ntmllc.com
Regional Advertising Sales Manager:
Sandrine Mallorca
Eastern Europe, France, Monaco, Switzerland
Phone: (011) 33-67 369-9785
Fax: (011) 33-4 9370-8019
E-mail: smallorca@ntmllc.com
Manager, Classified Sales:
Emmy Morales
Phone: (201) 902-1951; Fax: (201) 902-7283
HAWAII
Destination Marketing
Debbie Joseph
3555 Harding Ave, Suite 2C, Honolulu, HI
96816
Phone: (808) 739-2200; Fax: (808) 739-2201;
E-mail: Josephd001@hawaii.rr.com
CEN TRAL AMERICA/ SOUTH AMERICA
TRM, Travel Representations & Marketing
Lillian Martinez
495 Biltmore Way, Suite 404, Coral Gables,
FL 33134
Phone: (305) 476-1130; Fax: (305) 854-4589;
E-mail: twtrm@earthlink.net
LOUISIANA/MISSISSIPPI
Destination Marketing Consultants, Inc
Stu Barash
9535 Bearden Creek Lane, Humble, TX 77396
Phone: (281) 459-6605; Fax: (281) 436-0698
MEXICO
TOWMAR
Juan Martinez Dugay
Paloma Martinez
Presa de la Angostura, 8, Col. Irrigacion
Mexico DF 11500
Phone: (011) 52-55 2122-3900;
Fax: (011) 52-55 5395-4985
E-mail: jmdugay@towmar.net,
pmartinez@towmar.net
CANADA
American Publishers Representatives
Francoise Chalifour
41 Britain Street, Suite 303, Toronto, Ontario
M5A 1R7 Canada
Phone: (416) 363-1388, Ext. 237; Fax: (416)-
363-2889;
E-mail: fchalifour@aprcanada.com
EUROPE/ASIA
Managing Director,International Sales:
Pierre-Denis Bernoux
Phone: (201) 902-2026; Fax: (201) 902-2035;
E-mail: pbernoux@ntmllc.com
Associate Publisher, Travel Professional:
Joanne Nelson
Phone: (201) 902-1931; Fax: (201) 902-2041
NORTHSTAR TRAVEL MEDIA LLC
Chief Executive Officer:
George Hundley
Chief Financial Officer:
Tom Wright