Travel Weekly Digital Edition - 50th Anniversary Edition

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