In Memoriam: Scott Ahlsmith, Longtime Travel Industry Luminary

Scott Ahlsmith, a longtime member of the travel industry who worked across segments during his 45-year career, passed away at his home in Tacoma, Wash. on Christmas Day after a long illness.

Ahlsmith spent his entire career working in travel, including spending 8 years as vice president and general manager of TRAMS, serving as president and CEO of Magellan Travel technology, three years as executive vice president of global technology with Virtuoso, a stint as a consultant to Apple Leisure Group, and owning his own Washington-based agency.

Most recently, he was working at phoenix180, a travel technology company that he co-founded, and was serving as a member of the board of trustees at The Travel Institute, a board he chaired for eight years and was the longest sitting member of, first joining in 2002.

Gary Pollard, CTC, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for The Travel Institute, paid tribute to Ahlsmith this week, stating, “We bid goodbye to a friend and a leader. Scott leaves a legacy of innovation in business and technology that helped propel the industry forward for many decades.”

Ahlsmith’s expertise in travel technology extended beyond the industry. He volunteered his time and skills at Tacoma-area radio stations, including KNKX, where he played a pivotal role in enhancing the station’s cybersecurity measures. KNKX President and General Manager Joey Cohn reflected on Ahlsmith’s impact, praising his “wisdom of mind and clarity of thought.”

Ahlsmith also served as an expert for some early Travel Market Report content, including a piece in 2012 where he noted that agency owners were shifting their focus from website building, which had been the trend at the time, to social media.

“Back eight or 10 years ago, at every seminar, we were told as travel agency owners you need to have a website, so we all went out and built websites. If you looked at those websites they were all kind of the same. They really weren’t very interactive. They were more like billboards for our agencies. There are very few agencies today that invest heavily in their web presence. Part of the reason for that is it hasn’t by itself been the driver for increased profitability. Many people are now shifting a lot of their online work toward social sites and using those sites probably more than their websites,” he said at the time.

The Ahlsmith family, instead of flowers, is requesting donations to KNKX and The Travel Institute.