| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 08/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 16 |
| Copyright: Other |
open to question: Deidre Livingstone, British Tourist Authority
profileJob title: millennium marketing manager
Path to career: started at The Economist before working in the financial services sector for 10 years, firstly for Reed Stenhouse and then Waverley Asset Management. Moved into tourism and has been at the BTA for six years.
industry talk
n What has been your biggest challenge in the travel industry?
Marketing the Dome internationally against a backdrop of negative British press.
n What’s the best job you’ve had, apart from your current one?
Working as a financial advisor for Waverley Asset Management in Edinburgh during the 1980s – exciting times in the financial world.
n Which company, apart from your own, do you most admire and why?
Virgin, for sheer marketing brilliance. They never miss a trick.
n If you weren’t in travel, what would you be doing?
I would be writing biographies more than likely.
n What single thing have you achieved at work which has given you the most satisfaction?
Building a successful Web site.
n What advice would you give to someone starting out in the travel industry?
It is a great fun industry but if you want to get rich quick, think again. Join the City brokers.
n Do you have a Web site and if so how many bookings do you receive on it?
We have a Web site – www.visitbritain.com/millennium with about 45% of the traffic coming to it from the US.
n Do you think the growing consolidation in the industry is good for consumers?
Not necessarily, I am always concerned about monopolies and prefer to think that consumers will always be given a wide choice, that in turn creates real competition.
n Do you agree with travel agents charging a fee for their work?
Absolutely. I saw a shift to a fee-charging structure when in the financial services as commissions were reduced and I can see consumers being quite prepared to pay for good advice.
n Make one prediction about travel in the 21st century:
Flights into space, as demonstrated in Journey Zone at the Dome. I want to be one of the first to experience this kind of flight.
personal talk
n What is your star sign?
Aquarius.
n What would you change about yourself?
Nothing, I like myself.
n Which living person do you most respect and why?
The Queen Mother, a lady with more grace than I could ever hope for.
n If you could be anyone for the day who would you be and why?
I would be Lulu. She is quite a gal and seems to have a lot of fun.
n What is your greatest vice?
Overprogramming – my word for taking on too much and then running around trying to catch up. I remind myself daily now not to overprogramme.
n Who, apart from your partner, would be your ideal holiday companion and where would you go?
Michael Palin to Outer Mongolia up the Orknon River, wild and remote among delightful people.
n What is the most memorable destination you’ve visited and why?
It has to be Mongolia, simply outlandish, so unspoilt and the Mongols so welcoming. But you have to be prepared for outdoor living. No electricity in the Mongol tents.
n What type of holiday would you avoid at all costs?
Mass group travel and a bunch of Brits en masse or any nationality en masse in one place abroad.
n What would you have put on your gravestone?
She did it all.