Welcome to a new era in the history of TWgroup, with fresh new looks for Travel Weekly and travelweekly.co.uk, and a new direction for our portfolio of businesses.
Today we celebrate our 40th anniversary, and I hope you’ll have a chance to browse through the special 100-page commemorative supplement published with Travel Weekly this week.
I have been lucky enough to spend much of the past three decades in and around the travel industry. I have many great friends within it, and I continue to be as excited and energised by our sector now as I was when I founded my first travel business at the age of 21.
It is for this reason that this landmark is as much about looking to the future as it is about celebrating the past.
In August last year, I acquired Travel Weekly and its associated brands Gazetteers.com, Travolution and the Globe Travel Awards.
It was a big decision, but this is a great industry, and I firmly believe all great industries require and deserve a great trade media brand to inform, entertain and challenge.
During my time in the industry, I have witnessed and contributed to a radical shift in travel distribution and seen buying habits transformed.
But I have never had any doubt about two things. There will always be a role for expert travel agents and selling staff. And there will always be a need for dedicated media and information brands to help travel suppliers and providers communicate with those who sell their products.
The events of recent months have proved my point as we have seen consumers affected by the ash cloud and BA strikes turn back to the specialists who know their businesses inside out.
June 4, 2010, is the start of a new era for the TWgroup as our new-look titles and websites realign and refocus to deliver exactly what our readers and partners want – when and how they want it.
You’ll be hearing much more from us as we’ve got plenty of fantastic plans for the rest of the year and beyond.
It seems the old adage is true: life really does begin at 40!
Best wishes,
Clive Jacobs,
chairman, TWgroup
