This is a special day for me and a special day in history. My
father was born on this date in 1908 and 37 years later to the day,
the shooting stopped in World War II. It was Aug. 14, 1945, the day
known as V-J Day for Victory in Japan.
The date, fifty-five years ago today, also has significance for
our industry because there was a close connection between the war
and the subsequent rise of the travel industry.
Many of the pilots who had learned to fly in the military came
back and provided the work force for the postwar airline industry.
Many of the veterans who served overseas and came back to raise
families would later return to the areas where they'd served on
sentimental journeys with their spouses and children.
And perhaps most interestingly, many of the first generation of
postwar travel agents and tour operators either were refugees from
the war or had learned about overseas destinations as a result of
their wartime travels.
The agents who opened businesses after the war had a different
kind of relationship with customers than is commonplace today.
Their customers were unlikely to have traveled overseas and relied
heavily on the first-hand travel experiences of their agents.
That's still the case to some extent, but the equation has
changed materially. Today's travel agency customers are more likely
to be experienced travelers, and the agents are less likely to have
spent as much time in particular overseas destinations.
The generation of travel agents who started businesses after
World War II is beginning to pass from the scene. It's been
replaced by a different breed of travel professionals who have
traveled under more peaceful circumstances and, as a result of the
jet era, have been able to see a great deal of the world.
These agents continue to provide valuable first-hand experience,
but in serving a more sophisticated travel consumer they also need
to rely more on other sources of information beyond their own
travels.
The Internet gives these travel people unprecedented exposure to
all the travel information they could want. But it gives the same
opportunity to their customers, making it even more urgent that
agents use the medium to stay ahead of the curve.
As we witness this remarkable change, it's appropriate on this
day to pause and pay our respects to the men and women who served
our country so well all those years ago and who came back to form
the beginnings of the industry we work in today.