or those who've had enough gloom and
doom, the travel industry's next generation offers rays of hope.
The evidence can be found in the "40 Under 40" feature in the print
issue of Travel Weekly's March 10 issue.
This is an impressive group of people, and judging from what we
have learned of their careers and their aspirations, they're in
this business for the long haul.
You're going to be reading some of these names over and over as
the years roll on.
But not for a minute do we disparage the "over-40" crowd. In
fact, it is a credit to our current and past leaders that this
business continues to attract the caliber of people such as those
we profile in this issue.
• • •
Caribbean cooperation
udos to Caribbean tourism
executives.
Working together with suppliers and governments, the Caribbean
Tourism Organization and the Caribbean Hotel Association created a
framework for maintaining consumer confidence and trade support in
the event of war or terrorism.
That means assisting suppliers and governments in developing
contingency plans for dealing with passengers whose vacations are
threatened by the effects of war, terrorist acts or resulting
disruptions in air service. It also means communicating these
policies to agents and consumers.
The CTO and the CHA have a history of this kind of cooperation.
In addition to assisting individual destinations after bad storms,
such as Hurricane Marilyn in 1995 and Georges in 1998, each
organization helps its member countries and member hotels to
develop Ready Response Plans for the annual hurricane season. It is
good to see them putting that experience to good use during the
current season of uncertainty.
• • •
Mr. Italy
e extend our condolences to the
family and many friends of Mario Perillo, who died of cancer last
week at the age of 76.
Mario Perillo understood as well as anybody the the burdens and
obligations you assume when you put your own name on a
business.
It was this understanding that brought Mario Perillo to become
his own best spokesman before the microphones and TV cameras,
making his frequent and impassioned appeals to potential visitors
to his beloved Italy. For a long time his name will be known to
millions of New Yorkers who've never been to Italy.
Perillo Tours began life as Joseph Perillo & Sons in 1945.
In his brief biography on the company's Web site, Mario Perillo
wrote, "when Dad retired, I decided to become Mr. Italy."
That he succeeded is beyond dispute.