“The travel industry is my drug of choice – it didn’t used to be! – but it’s been my one lasting love affair and I am absolutely passionate about it.” Goodman also pledged to pay 14% commission to agents selling his Totally Travel holidays, promising a return to “the good old days”.
Those were the words of Harry Goodman as he addressed an ITT Odyssey dinner at the House of Commons last night.
Goodman, who has been described as the godfather of travel and won this year’s Travel Weekly Globe award for lifetime achievement, recalled his 56-year career in travel, starting in 1954 as a counter clerk selling rail and coach tickets, theatre trips and holidays to Butlins and Warners.
He went on to start taking the first Brits on package holidays overseas with his tour operation Sunair and later Intasun, and later founded Air Europe, TV Travel Shop and most recently Totally Travel.
“The proudest moment of my life was sitting on my first aircraft flying back from Seattle and hearing the captain talking to air traffic control and saying: ‘Air Europe One, permission to land?’,” he said.
Goodman recalled the heydays of the 1980s, when agents were rewarded for selling tour operators’ holidays with free travel and parties.
“Every one of our leading agents became members of my Chairman’s Club and were entitled to free flights anywhere, and we threw some wild parties,” he recalled.
Reminiscing about once taking over the entire top floor of the Carlton in Cannes at the 1971 Abta convention and filling it with beautiful women, Goodman added: “Sex sells – none of them sold it, or gave it away for free, but we just had the best-looking girls hosting our parties and the best-looking reps and everyone wanted to be there.”
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