NEWS OBITUARY


Harry Goodman, 1938-2018: The travel tycoon, who died this week aged 79, pioneered low- cost holidays in the 1970s and 80s. Amie Keeley looks back at his colourful life


Harry Goodman in the 1950s (far left), and with one of his grandchildren and extended family


‘Massive risk-taker with real vision’


An inspiring but to some a controversial figure in travel, Harry Goodman is credited with pioneering the low-cost package holiday model in the 1970s.


He built International Leisure


Group (ILG) to become the UK’s second-largest operator behind Thomson Holidays in the 1980s, but saw his empire crumble in 1991 owing £500 million. Those who knew Goodman


say he lived life on the edge. His daughter Naomi Tolson described him as a “massive risk-taker” but someone with “real vision”. “He came from nothing so he had nothing to lose,” she said.


Early life


Goodman was born in the East End of London in 1938 to a Latvian Jewish immigrant mother. He never knew his father and was adopted by his mother’s husband. Aged 11, he was orphaned when


his mother died of bowel cancer and his stepfather disappeared. His two younger half-brothers


were sent to an orphanage but Harry was considered too old and


1970


lived with family members. Goodman’s first job was


working at his neighbour’s travel agency in Bond Street. After completing National Service, he set up an employment agency but sold it two years later and bought three travel agencies.


First steps


Sunair was Goodman’s first tour operating venture. It sold cheap holidays, but got into financial trouble and was sold to Thomson. He then set up Intasun, later


renamed ILG. The business grew quickly, offering holidays at cheap prices and paying 12.5% commission compared with Thomson’s 10%. When rival Court Line went bust


in 1974, Intasun “cleaned up” the business it left behind. Goodman had a wheeler-dealer image and was a risk-taker, but he was also shrewd and knew he needed the right people behind him to make the business work. He employed former Global chief


Sidney Perez to run Intasun’s tour operations. Goodman was quoted


HARRY GOODMAN’S CAREER IN BRIEF 1962


Sets up Sunair Holidays


Launches Intasun


1985


Intasun renamed International Leisure Group


8 travelweekly.co.uk 15 March 2018


1991 ILG


collapses 1998


Launches TV Travel Shop


as saying: “I had a white suit and tousled hair; I was outrageous. We needed a wise old head and a trusted name in the industry.” Intasun grew by acquisition,


taking over regional package operators such as Cambrian, which ran flights out of Cardiff, and Airways, which flew out of Newcastle. Goodman then set up Air Europe, a forerunner to the modern low-cost airlines. At the time only Thomson and Cosmos had their own airlines. Intasun was floated on the stock exchange in 1981, valued at £44 million. It was renamed ILG in 1985


and enjoyed phenomenal growth, snapping up Global, Club 18-30 and Lancaster. By the late 1980s it was taking more than two million people on holiday each year.


ILG collapse


However, in 1991 ILG collapsed in what was then travel’s biggest-ever failure. Goodman blamed the first Gulf war and downturn in tourism. He went on to co-found TV


Travel Shop with Dennis Strauss. He sold it to broadcaster USA


2002 Sells TV


Travel Shop 2005


Sets up Totally Travel


Networks in 2002, reportedly pocketing £4.2 million. His last major venture was


as chief executive of the parent of cruise retailers 1st4cruising and Voyana, which went into liquidation in 2012. Leicester-based Total Travel


Leisure Holdings collapsed a year after Totally Travel, which previously owned 1st4cruising, entered administration. Goodman was a mentor to the


likes of former Tui and Thomas Cook bosses Peter Long and Manny Fontenla-Novoa, who worked for him during the ILG days when his “lavish, millionaire lifestyle” prompted tabloid headlines. In recent years, Goodman had a series of health problems including heart and lung disease, as well as diabetes, and in 2007 he suffered a heart attack. Goodman, who was married


three times, died of a second heart attack on Monday while sitting by a pool on holiday with friends in Tenerife. He leaves behind his wife Yvonne and children Naomi, Debra and Jonathan.


2011


Total Travel Leisure Holdings (TTLH) acquires Totally Travel brands


2012 TTLH


goes into liquidation


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