Industry talk
n What was your first job in travel and how much did you get paid?
I came to travel late, by being drafted into the loss making Pickfords Travel in 1987 to improve its financial performance. My salary at the time was just over £45,000 a year.
n Who has been the biggest influence on your career and why?
Peter Thompson, chairman of NFC, he has the combination of motivational capacity with enthusiasm and the slight threat which concentrates the mind.
n If you weren’t in travel, would what you be doing?
I would probably have enjoyed a military career, if there are any these days.
n How many hours do you work a week on average?
If I include time in aircraft, probably between 60hrs-70hrs.
n What advice would you give to someone starting out in the travel industry?
Don’t worry too much about the initial jobs, all experience that you have is useful at the early stages.
n What percentage of holiday bookings do you estimate will be taken direct by the year 2000?
In the business travel sector we would estimate that these will take around 20% of the marketplace, although this direct booking could well be with agents rather than suppliers.
n How long do you expect it will be before a significant number of bookings are made by digital television?
I do not believe that digital television will be a significant contributor in the business travel sector.
n Do you think the growing consolidation in the industry is good for consumers?
I believe that this is merely a reflection of the industry reaching a degree of maturity. Most mature industries have a fair amount of polarisation with a few very large suppliers and and some small niche market operators. If there is little competition this is bad for any customer. It is our role to ensure that competition continues to exist.
n Do you agree with travel agents charging a fee for their work or should they provide their service free?
I believe that any labourer is worthy of his hire and that commission systems are rapidly becoming less viable. There is a major education process to be carried out.
Personal talk
n What is your star sign?
Gemini.
n What would you change about yourself?
To be able to eat anything I want without putting on weight.
n What is your greatest regret?
Not having travelled more when I was younger.
n What is your greatest extravagance?
Clothes, particularly ties.
n What would you have put on your gravestone?
I’m taking it with me!
n When was the last time you did some exercise?
I try, without much success, to exercise three times a week.
n Which sports do you love and which do you hate?
I’m not one of the world’s great sportsman, even as a spectator. I have to consciously read the back page of the Sunday papers so I can talk to customers and contemporaries.
n What is the most memorable destination you’ve visited and why?
My first visit to Hong Kong.
was an absolutely fantastic experience and although it has lost a little of its buzz with the economic downturn, its position and the sheer feelingof dynamic is still a major attraction.
n What type of holiday would you avoid at all costs?
One which involved the compulsory involvement in activities, sport or otherwise with groups of enthusiastic and noisy people.
Richard Lovell
Job title: executive vice president, Europeanoperations.
Age: 56.
Born: Oxford.
Lives: Regent’s Park, London.
Status: married.
Education: Haberdashers Aske School, Hampstead, University of Southampton.
Path to career: From leaving university until 1987 had a varied career working in management, marketing and director roles for various companies. Started a late career in travel by joining Pickfords Travel in 1987. When Pickfords Travel was sold to Wagonlit he became managing director for Carlson Wagonlit in 1991. In 1993 became executive vice-president, northern Europe. Took up current position in 1998.