Can travel and tourism help create a more peaceful world, even as divisiveness and strife seem to gain ground at home and abroad? Randy Garfield passionately believes that it can — and does.
Garfield has been around in the travel industry. He’s worked in the airline, cruise line, and attraction sectors, joining Disney 19 years ago and working up to his current position as EVP of worldwide sales and travel operations for Disney Destinations, and he is president of The Walt Disney Travel Company.
During his heartfelt presentation after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at Travel Weekly’s 2012 Reader’s Choice Awards in December, Garfield said, “When I was a kid, I never imagined that I’d become part of something as grand and inspiring as this industry we’re all in.”
In the early days of his career, after his first taste of international travel, Garfield said he knew he was “hooked” on the industry, “not only because I loved to go to new places, but because I saw travel as public diplomacy, which 
could be a force for world peace.”
Garfield is fond of sharing stories about his roots as a streetwise kid who grew up in a tough neighborhood in The Bronx — not the sort of guy given to utopian thinking. If he believes travel can function as a force for peace, it knocks cynicism about the prospect back at least a few notches.
Travel Weekly PLUS Editor in Chief Diane Merlino decided to chat with Garfield about what he sees as the relationship between what the travel industry does and a better, more peaceful world.
Merlino: Randy, when did you start thinking about the potential of travel and tourism to help shape a more peaceful world?
Randy Garfield: I started to travel internationally during the years I worked in the airline industry, from '72 to '83, and then in the cruise industry with Royal Viking Line, from '83 to '86. For a kid who grew up in the Bronx, that was a big step. As I traveled to different locales around the world, it enhanced my respect and appreciation for those countries, my insight into the diversity of cultures.
While I found lots of differences, I also found lots of similarities, especially from the standpoint that parents everyplace just want to build a better life for their children. That’s what first piqued my own thought process about how people who visit different destinations around the world probably have a better understanding of, and greater appreciation for, the people and cultures they’ve encountered.
Merlino: How has your thinking about the connection between tourism and peace evolved over time?
Garfield: There have been studies of people who came to the United States, with interviews done before and after they traveled here. And it didn't matter where they traveled — whether it was New York, California, the middle of the country, to Disney — their appreciation and their opinion of the United States was significantly enhanced after they traveled here.
I do believe that people who travel internationally absolutely have a
greater appreciation of other people and cultures, a greater
sensitivity.
You know, you make connections with people everywhere you go. You make friends. You create a sense of community as you make your way around the globe. And that sense of community can be a unifying force in both good times and difficult ones as individuals rise above political interpretations to draw on the memories and connections they have with other people, the men and women on the street so to speak.
Merlino: It sounds like you're talking about a kind of citizen diplomacy, where regular folks who have made one-to-one connections with other regular folks while traveling in a different country bring back a deeper understanding that our commonalities outweigh our differences.
Garfield: I absolutely believe that's the case. I believe that as we expand our horizons through travel, we begin to understand that the world's a huge and wonderful place, and each part of it offers something different for the traveler. We become less ethnocentric and more globally minded. I also believe that travel leads to a sense of responsibility to do our part to preserve and to protect people and places far and near.
Merlino: On a related topic, what are your thoughts about the responsibility of travel providers and suppliers to contribute to the communities where they do business?
Garfield: Let me take that on a personal level first. When people travel as individuals, we actually serve as ambassadors of our own source location, our own home culture. It’s important that we put our best foot forward to represent our own culture well and to respect how other people are representing theirs. I think this focus on individual ambassadorship, creates a greater sense of mutual respect, understanding, and acceptance amongst people.
I also think that tourism can be a powerful economic stimulus that can bring funds to developing nations, to less prosperous countries. Travel companies need to be sensitive to the environment, the ecology, in these countries. Governments that have recognized the importance of protecting their natural resources and historic sites are in many cases doing a fine job of balancing the sustained capability to offer those unique experiences with the desire to generate economic development and prosperity for their citizens.
Merlino: What about you, Randy? How have you been touched or changed by your own travels?
Garfield: When I travel — whether it's taxi drivers, bellmen, waiters, waitresses — I never tell people who I work for. I just ask them what they do when they're on vacation. I'm always touched by their stories, wherever it is that they’ve traveled.
Diane, I've got tons of personal stories that I could share with you. But for me, it’s just a great feeling to be in a business where we are dream-makers. That’s what we do, at least on the leisure side; we’re creating experiences for people that they can cherish.
I think we're in a great industry. I really do. If you think about all the different jobs people have outside our industry — all of which are certainly deserving and have a place in our economy — I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a lot of other roles that are singularly dedicated to creating memories that touch people's lives in a positive way and that hopefully last a lifetime.
Merlino: Do you have any final insights to share with colleagues about the travel industry’s potential to contribute to a more peaceful world?
Garfield: I think it's important for people in our industry to recognize that no matter what role you play or what segment you're involved in, wherever you are in the spectrum you play a key role in public diplomacy and in making the world a safer, more loving place to be.