A TMR Welcome To Nick Walton And Susan Black: A Letter From The Editor
by Cheryl Rosen /In this electronic age, the travel industry and the news business stand out as two places that still rely on the human element. We may use technology, but in the end, we are people businesses—and that’s why predictions of our demise have never quite come to pass. As journalists and as travel professionals, we offer our customers the human contacts, the insider information, the real scoop that no computer database can match.
So Travel Market Report is thrilled today to run the first columns written for us by two of the best-known and best-connected figures in the travel industry, Nick Walton and Susan Black.
I think it’s fair to say that Nick knows everyone and everything important in the world of luxury travel in Asia—and so we thought he’d be the perfect person to write a monthly column for us on new luxury hotels opening in the Asia Pacific region.
Based in Hong Kong, Nick is the former travel editor of the South China Morning Post, and currently heads up leading luxury travel and lifestyle titles JETSETTER, Explorer Magazine, The Art of Business Travel, and NecesCity. A writer, editor and photojournalist, Nick contributes to travel magazines and international newspapers globally, and appears regularly on television and at conferences.
Closer to home, Susan Black is a master of corporate strategies—especially of all things digital, and especially for companies in the travel industry. You’ve probably heard her speak or moderate a panel at an industry event, or perhaps you are a customer of her advisory practice, Black & Wright. She is the former CMO of Travel Impressions, where she created TI's popular webinar series, "Social U."
Susan will be sharing her expertise with TMR (oh yes, we do plan to learn from her!) and with our readers in a monthly column offering up strategies for marketing your business and growing your bottom line in an e-commerce age.
As we hope you know, Nick and Susan are just two of the new contributors to TMR. Over the past nine months the Mazza family has made a huge investment in us. As the only independent publication by and for travel agents, we have brought on board a whole new staff of recognized and respected names in travel reporting, including Doug Gollan, Cheryl Rosen, James Shillinglaw and Richard D’Ambrosio, to join Anne Marie Moebes and Daniel Wade on our masthead. Our goal, as always, is to be the unified and respected voice of the travel professional, run exclusively by and for sellers of travel.
So welcome aboard, Nick and Susan—along with luxury hotel doyenne Mary Gostelow and former ASTA counsel Paul Ruden, who joined us in recent weeks. Together we hope to bring travel agents the unbiased news and advice you need to grow your businesses, attract and keep the best talent, and convince customers to see the world—and to always use a travel agent when they do!
See you on the seas sometime,
Cheryl