By Barry Kauffman
In a year where travel saw so many ups and downs and surprises, it can be difficult to point to any one figure as having had the most impact. Travel is, after all, a multi-faceted industry with titanic figures looming everywhere.
Do you pick the person who influenced development of a single destination? Of a business? Of an entire industry within the world of travel?
The fact is, each of the people named below had some measure of impact on the industry. Taken as a whole, they’re responsible for the incredible year in travel that was in 2016.
MIKE ISENBEK, SENIOR EDITOR: President Obama definitely had an influence on travel in 2016 when it comes to Cuba — one of his latest actions was to lift the ban on one of the most iconic forbidden souvenirs for Americans: Cuban cigars.
JANEEN CHRISTOFF, SENIOR WRITER, DESTINATIONS: I am going to say that the travel agent was the most influential in 2016. For several years we have been hearing that “travel agents are back” but this year really had the numbers to back that claim up.
People are looking for personalized service and as more and more innovation and apps and online travel services have cluttered up the marketplace, people are turning to travel agents to help them see through the confusion and find out what they actually want to do.
BRIAN MAJOR, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, CARIBBEAN AND LATAM: Several key players impacted tourism in the Caribbean and Latin America in 2016. Perhaps the most influential was Cuba’s longtime dictator Fidel Castro, whose death bought the first change in leadership to Cuba in generations.
But others made their mark as well. Bermuda’s Shawn Crockwell, who as tourism minister in 2014 launched an effort to establish casino gaming in the territory, saw his initiative reach near-completion in 2016 even after his resignation.
Despite stepping down this summer following a local political dispute, Crockwell appeared poised to achieve his goal as Bermuda is now to establishing two resort casinos in the territory, including one that will be the first new resort in the country’s St. George’s district in decades.
Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s tourism minister, returned to office as part of a new government, resuming the post he held from 2007 to 2011. Bartlett immediately launched an effort to catalyze Jamaica’s already solid visitor growth in recent years, targeting an ultimate goal of double-digit annual visitor arrivals growth.
Other Caribbean destination officials and tourism stakeholders impacted regional events in 2016. Gaston Browne, Antigua’s prime minister, launched an initiative to expand arrivals via infrastructure improvements including an expansion of V.C. Bird International Airport and new resorts, highlighted by a $250 million Barbuda development backed by Academy Award-winning actor Robert DeNiro.
Sarkis Izmirlian, the original developer of the $3.5 billion Baha Mar resort, waged a bitter, year-long battle to resume control of the bankrupt property. Karolin Troubetzkoy, president of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Assn., traveled across the globe to successfully lobby destinations and governments on behalf of Caribbean tourism.
Shawn Sullivan, Airbnb’s director of public policy for Central America and the Caribbean, traveled through the region to confer with hospitality leaders as the home-sharing giant emerged as a significant regional player. The Caribbean’s 28 Olympic medal winners brought honor, distinction and positive attention to their respective countries.
GABE ZALDIVAR, SENIOR WRITER, TECH AND ENTERTAINMENT: There was no more caustic, polarizing, inflammatory figure in the world this previous year than Donald Trump, the president-elect of this country. And his case became an illustration on how one person can completely alter the landscape, and not in a good way.
Whether it was causing fear of a Cuba reversal, imposing a real sense of dread from would-be International travelers; or actually causing a negative impact on his own hotel brands, Trump’s national rhetoric led to very real ripples throughout the travel industry. And it’s just the beginning.
PATRICK CLARKE, SENIOR WRITER, BREAKING NEWS: Sir Richard Branson has long been an influential person in the travel industry. But 2016 was another big year for Branson, who not only has us excited about the prospect of space tourism, but the potential to fly from New York to London in under three and a half hours with Boom Supersonic’s supersonic airliner.
The Virgin Group founder also rolled out Virgin Voyages in 2016 and has many travelers counting down the days until the new cruise line launches.
DONALD WOOD, SENIOR WRITER, BREAKING NEWS: One of the most influential men in the travel industry over the last half century was Enterprise Rent A Car founder Jack Taylor, who died on July 2 at the age of 94. Not only was he responsible for the rise and expansion of Enterprise to include the Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental brands, he also was a philanthropist who donated over $200 million dollars to good causes over his lifetime. The car rental industry lost a true giant with the passing of Taylor.
MICHAEL SCHOTTEY, SENIOR EDITOR: Though Donald Trump got more coverage this year, 2017 will be when we truly feel the effects of what his presidency can do for (and to) the travel industry. In 2016? I don’t know if any single decision will have as much of a ripple effect as opening Cuba up to American travelers and travel companies. Whether or not you agree with President Obama on most policies—or even on this policy in particular—everyone has to respect the potential for disruption that Cuba has had on the travel world.
BARRY KAUFMAN, MANAGING EDITOR: Here’s a dark horse pick – Jaime Ortega, the cardinal of Cuba. It was his Rose Garden meeting with President Obama that got our foot in the door to establishing ties with Cuba again. Acting as the go-between, Ortega and Pope Francis did a lot more to make tourism to Cuba happen than a lot of people realize.
RICH THOMASELLI, SENIOR WRITER, AIRLINES: I thought United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz was fairly influential, at least for the aviation sector. He oversaw the development and introduction of United’s new business class, Polaris, and was also the first to pull the trigger on what other airlines will likely follow – the introduction of fares that prohibit customers from using the overhead bins.
TIM WOOD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: The hotel industry will remember 2016 as the year that Starwood was bought up by Marriott. That puts Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson at the top of my list. Not only did he navigate the company through the extremely muddy waters of the Starwood merger, but he and his executive team handled concerns of Starwood Points members so proactively that he actually managed to turn mutiny into a measure of collective calm from the rewards program diehards. There is more work ahead in 2017, but Sorenson pulled off an epic acquisition without the behemoth looking like the cost-cutting bully. That’s a feat to be celebrated.
Carnival CEO Arnold Donald deserves a nod for leading Carnival to become the first cruise line to open up Cuba to cruising in more than a half century, and to do it so that Cuban Americans could sail as passengers (whether that was a reaction to the disdain from the U.S. Cuban community or not, fact is, Carnival stepped up in the end). While fathom may be ending as a standalone cruise line less than six months after its launch, opening up those waters is a major accomplishment.
He and Carnival chief experience and innovation officer John Padgett are about to announce a major innovation that will surely land them on the 2017 list, but the big reveal isn’t happening until January.
THERESA NORTON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, VACATION AGENT, AGENT@HOME: The year 2016 was a major success for Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, parent of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Oceania Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line. He reveled in the splashy introduction of “the most luxurious ship ever built,” the Seven Seas Explorer in July. (Princess Charlene of Monaco was godmother, escorted by Prince Albert!) The ship lived up to the hype and drew rave reviews. Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet was undergoing a massive $125 million renovation. But Del Rio ends the year with a major coup that feels personal to him. All three NCLH cruise brands received permission from Cuba to operate cruises to the long-off-limits island starting in 2017. “As a Cuban-American and founder of Oceania Cruises, I am incredibly proud that one of Oceania’s vessels will be our company’s first to sail to Cuba,” he said. “This is truly a dream come true for me, and I cannot wait for our loyal guests to experience the sights and sounds of my hometown of Havana and get to know its rich culture and its warm and welcoming residents.”
Few people have ever experienced a year like Edie Rodriguez. She’s the high-profile chairman, president and CEO of Crystal Cruises, which in July 2015 announced an aggressive expansion plan that goes far beyond the two traditional ships the company has always operated. To wit: In December 2015, the luxury adventure yacht Crystal Esprit was christened in the Seychelles. It will spend this winter in the Caribbean. This past summer, the company launched the Crystal Mozart, the first of a series of sleek river yachts to comprise Crystal River Cruises, which the company says is the only true luxury river cruise brand in Europe. In addition, the company in April launched Crystal Luxury Air, a private jet charter service with a Global Express Jet that accommodates 12 guests. Crystal also revealed plans for Crystal AirCruises in partnership with The Peninsula Hotels, which will take guests on lavish global adventures in Crystal’s privately owned Boeing 777-200LR. There’s even more to come: two river yachts in each 2017 and 2018; three more expedition yachts in 2019-2021; and, in 2022, a new Crystal Exclusive Class ocean ship, which will have some residences.
Whew! Rodriguez has overseen all this expansion while jetting around the world. We don’t know how she does it.
DAVID COGSWELL, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, TOUR OPERATORS: It is hard to avoid placing Donald Trump in this category as it has been hard to avoid his ubiquitous media presence throughout the year. He was at the top of the Google News list of top stories almost constantly throughout the year. No one ever had more of a gift for getting attention.
In regard to the travel industry Trump’s influence was not positive, and could have been negative in several ways, though it is hard to measure. His statements calling Mexicans rapists, proposing a ban on Muslims entering the country, promising to build a wall on the 2,000-mile southern border and to roll back President Obama’s opening of relations with Cuba were all in direct opposition to the kinds of open border policies that are most favored by the travel industry.
But Trump is a hotelier himself, so people in the travel industry hope that his business instincts will override his more extreme and divisive statements during the campaign. It seems unlikely that his divisiveness and encouragement of a climate of violence would not have some effect on inbound tourism, but that too cannot be measured at this point. A number of countries already have travel warnings against visiting the United States, seeing it as unsafe. This trend seems likely to continue.
In regard to who had the most effect on tourism directly, it’s hard to come up with a more important figure than President Obama, whose efforts to open travel to Cuba have opened the door to unleash the massive pent-up demand for travel to Cuba by Americans.
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