Industry talk
What was your first job in travel and how much did you get paid?
My first job was in my father’s travel agency and I was paid a measly sum of £3.12s.
What white lies did you tell on your first job application?
Luckily, I’ve never actually had to apply for a job.
What has been your biggest challenge in the travel industry?
Growing a very small business into a relatively large business and coping with the need to provide an ever larger capital base out of profits.
Who has been the biggest influence on your career and why?
Sadly, the biggest influence would have to be my bank manager of 20 years who has supported me through thick and thin.
What has been your most embarrassing moment in the travel industry?
Unfortunately there was an occasion when I asked a client who was booking a ticket to Australia when her baby was due – and she told me she wasn’t pregnant!
If you weren’t in travel, what would you be doing?
I think that I would like to run a garage that specialised in classic cars.
What do you always carry with you to work?
The keys to the safe and my glasses.
What percentage of holiday bookings do you estimate will be taken direct in five years’ time?
About 50%.
Do you have a Web site and if so how many bookings do you receive on it?
The address is www.ski-independence. co.uk. Users accessing the Ski Independence Web site can request brochures and quotations. However, they can’t actually make bookings through this site yet.
How many travel agents do you estimate there will be left in the UK in five years’ time?
In my opinion, there will be about 3,000 left.
Make one prediction about travel in the 21st century:
Specialists will survive and prosper despite the Internet.
John Bennett
Job title: AITO chairman and Osprey Holidays managing director.
Age: 55.
Born: Ontario, Canada.
Lives: Edinburgh.
Status: separated.
Education: The Royal High School in Edinburgh.
Path to career: began at his father’s travel agency in Edinburgh, then ran a branch of the agency in Dalkeith. Five years later another agency opened and the Bennett’s travel chain was founded. Osprey began as a subsidiary of Bennett’s in 1973.
Personal talk
What is your star sign?
Pisces.
Who would be your ideal holiday companion? Where would you go?
Any friend to go skiing.
What would you change about yourself?
I would change my desire to put every difficult piece of paper in a pile on the floor by the side of my desk.
What is your greatest regret?
When I was younger I regret not having the money to go motor racing.
What is your greatest extravagance?
My classic car.
What is your greatest fear?
Letting people down.
What is your idea of a great night out?
It would have to be good friends, good food and good wine.
If you could be anyone for a day who would it be and why?
I suppose it would be fun to stand in Richard Branson’s shoes.
What is the most memorable destination you’ve visited and why?
I’ve been fortunate enough to have travelled to some wonderful destinations and it’s completely impossible to pick out just one.
What type of holiday would you avoid at all costs?
A multiple’s package holiday to the Mediterranean!
What would you have put on your gravestone?
Life was great.