visit usa now! ISSUE 108 | OCTOBER 2012 Alan Thomas Waddell, Visit USA Association (UK) COO
Visit USA’s highly popular Chief Operating Officer, Alan Thomas Waddell, 74 years young, died unexpectedly on September 12 from virulent double pneumonia at the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guilford, Surrey. He had been the Visit USA Association – UK’s COO for 10 years, completing a distinguished career as a top travel and tourism industry executive, with British Airways, American Express and the BBC. Alan’s career included management training at British Airways with subsequent senior roles in North Atlantic Marketing, Marketing Canada, Managing Director of
Fright nights at Universal
Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights Event, which runs on select nights until October 31, features an impressively scary line-up that includes ‘The Walking Dead’ and Silent Hill. On offer at the Florida park are highly- themed, disturbingly real, haunted mazes and streets filled with hundreds of specially trained ‘scareactors’.’ Expect to stumble across a flesh- hungry mob, demonic beings, roaming legions of menacing beasts, vampires, prisoners, warriors, a nuclear ooze- covered Las Vegas wasteland; and come face-to-face with the twisted concepts pulled straight from some of legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper’s most popular songs. Universal Orlando Resort has operated its Halloween Horror Nights Event for more than 20 years. This year’s horror nights are on October 4, 7, 11, 14, 17, 21, 24, 28 and 31,
www.universalorlando.co.uk
22 October 2012 •
www.sellinglonghaul.com
Speedbird Holidays, Assistant General Manager Europe and as Managing Director of British Airways Holidays. He went on to join American Express, headed up their UK tour operations and was later promoted to the credit card side of American Express, where his role involved managing major trading relationships. During his career, Alan Waddell was very
involved in trade activities including an elected Council Member of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) and work with the prestigious Business Travel Liaison Group (BTLG) involving
introduction of a system of airfare benchmarking. In 1990 he became an Industry Consultant with assignments including Forte Hotels, BUPA, PPP and TransBrasil Airlines plus the BBC where he made long-term recommendations on their corporate travel strategy. His role at the BBC was later expanded to that of full time Head of Trading Operations, managing all the BBC's substantial travel, transport related, printing and vehicle leasing contracts. In 2000, he was one of three nominees for UK Business Travel Manager of the year by Business Travel World magazine for his work on the management of the BBC's very demanding and complex travel needs. In 2002, Alan joined the Visit USA Association UK as Chief Operating Officer to stimulate the growth of this important trade organisation. Visit USA enjoys a great deal of success in the UK and is the largest of its kind in the world. Alan introduced a number of marketing initiatives and member services, including the very successful website and major charitable programmes to benefit Just A Drop. In 2006, Alan married Helen Marano,
former director of the US Department of Commerce/Office of Travel & Tourism Industries and current VP with the World
Just a Drop topped up with a very big cheque
Travel & Tourism Association based in London. Helen Marano stated: "We are so very, very sad to lose Alan, such a dynamic and vital person, loved by so many. He loved his role in developing opportunities for increasing British travel to the USA. His friendships throughout the industry were precious to him.” Alan is survived by his wife Helen Marano, daughter Abigail and son Dominic. Alan's memorial service was held on
September 21 at the Park Crematorium, Aldershot, Hampshire, GU12 4BP followed by a Life Celebration at the West Surrey Golf Club, Enton Green, Goldaming, Surrey. Contributions are welcome to MacMillan Cancer Fund (
www.macmillan.org.uk) or Just a Drop (
www.justadrop.org), two favoured charities of Alan’s. Personal condolence messages can be sent to
hmarano@gmail.com.
Many of us at BMI Publishing, especially those involved with Selling Long Haul and Travel Uni, have worked very closely with Alan Waddell on various Visit USA Association publications and projects for a number of years. His unfailing friendliness, courtesy, good humour and efficiency will be greatly missed.
Kimpton openings in California and beyond
Kimpton Hotels has expanded its US portfolio this year. This spring, Kimpton took over the boutique Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara, California and added Donovan House –a boutique hotel in Washington DC. Hotel Palomar Phoenix opened in June.
Located Downtown, in the mixed use CityScape development, the 242-room hotel has an open-air pool. In October, Hotel Monaco will open in Philadelphia's historic Lafayette Building.
www.kimptonhotels.com
Kate Burgess-Craddy of The Visit USA Association UK, presents Fiona Jeffrey OBE of Just a Drop, with a cheque for £6,220, raised at the Association’s Independence Day Ball, the highest amount ever generated for the charity. Just a Drop will
be selecting a special project for these funds, to be known as ‘The Visit USA Project in Memory of Alan Waddell’, the Association’s former Chief Operating Officer, who sadly passed away in September.
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