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The
newest Angel on my Shoulder. Mira Berman
entered my life in 1995, turning it in an entirely
new direction by providing a positive way to bring
the good news about Africa, Africans and ATA to the
world. Our avenue of communication was Africa
Travel Magazine in print and online. Thanks to her
guidance and support, we made giant strides towards
changing perceptions about Africa; presenting a far
different picture from the negative news reports by
the mainstream media. Through Mira, I received the
"gift of a lifetime" - an opportunity to learn
about Africa first-hand, from the inside,
with personal introductions to tourism ministers,
heads of state and hundreds of African travel and
tourism professionals from across the continent and
diaspora. Many have become life-long friends and
supporters..
She is a true 'angel', who has been a friend, an
inspiration and a mentor. The following updated
presentation of my keynote speech is dedicated to
her memory.
The
original was for Trans
Canada Yellowhead
Highway
Association 59th Annual Convention in Edmonton,
Alberta. My audience included mayors of communities
along the 2600 km route, tourism and transportation
officials from four provincial governments.
Full
tribute to Mira
Berman.
“Angels
on my Shoulder”
by Jerry W.
Bird
 Life
is a Highway ... and just as the mighty
Yellowhead, the Alaska Highway, or any great river
system follows a given path, it has countess
tributaries, back roads and trails worthy of
exploration.
One
never knows what's around the bend, or beyond the
next fork in the road, with each option presenting
a different set of
possibilities.
Sometimes
a detour or wrong turn ends up being a pleasant
surprise or rewarding achievement. That's the magic
of serendipity... the call of the wild or lure of
the open road.
"There's
a great, big broad land way up
yonder
There
are forests where silence has
lease.
There's
a beauty that thrills me with
wonder.
There's
a stillness that fills me with
peace."
 On
life's highway there are many signs, and a few
"special angels" to whose legacy we owe a powerful
debt. One whose outstanding example and sage advice
impacted my life was my uncle, the late Frank
Bird. Head of the British Columbia Automobile
Association for two decades, he steered me down a
career path that began at the Edmonton Journal, and
took an exciting new turn in the 90s, thanks to
desktop publishing and the Internet. It's as if
everything one learns through four long decades is
just boot camp; basic training for even greater
challenges to come.
Another
bright angel is Joe Whitehead, publisher of
Western Canada's Journal of Commerce, who has been
developing travel and trade missions with Korea and
Japan since the 50s. Joe provided international
distribution for our travel-business magazines at
Apec 97, the Asia
Pacific Economic
Conference,
opening new avenues to the Pacific Rim. Prior to
his death in January 2002, he was our Editorial
Board Chairman. Joe's legacy will continue in our
travel business magazines.
Speaking
of Joe Whitehead and the Asian market, last week's
Vancouver Sun told how BC Tourism and the Canadian
Tourism Commission scored a major coup, with 23
million Japanese television viewers waking up to
views of the Canadian Rockies by Rail. That same
article sang the praises of a new cruise ship
terminal for Prince Rupert. Well deserved to say
the least and of significant value to packaging and
marketing travel, trade and tourism on the entire
Yellowhead Route. Perhaps the legacy of Charles
Melville Hays, lost in the Titanic sinking, is
coming to pass with a cruise industry for Prince
Rupert. A powerful idea whose time has finally
come.
Packaging
Fly-Drive Vacations
My legacy in travel and transportation started
on the Yukon riverboats, government surveys and
Royal Canadian Airforce, which provided me with an
appreciation for the vastness of Canada and the
need to secure our borders, network of highways and
airports. How important that lesson has become
today (post 9/11) a topic our magazines and web
sites are covering in increasing detail.
Open
Skies and the fly-drive concept led to our popular
Air Highway Supermaps, designed and produced for
Transport Canada, with other versions created for
Avis, Best Western, MasterCard, Sheraton and
Helijet Airways. Over 400,000 copies of our various
maps are now in circulation thanks to these fine
sponsors and a network of gateway airports that
distribute our items.
Speaking
of fly-drive opportunities, Canada's
recreational vehicle industry, whose trade
association my agency represented on the national
scene, was a legacy of the 60s. It's an
exhilarating life in the wide open spaces &endash;
and as we learned as Europeans flocked to Canada in
a new way, a powerful earner of tourism dollars.
The Yellowhead Route is like a Mecca to nature
lovers and prime RV country.
I
can't talk about packaging tourism without
mentioning the renaissance of rail travel, which is
like an elegant land cruise as packaged by Rocky
Mountain Railtours and others. Back in 1989 many
colleagues thought my idea for a "Railways of the
World" feature in our travel magazine was a joke.
Har de har har!
Most railway items or articles at that time were
consigned to the back pages, swimming in a sea of
ads. Anyway, I pressed on, and for years my railway
features generated more mail than any other topic
on our editorial menu. A series that ran for three
years in a Seattle newspaper used to fill my
mailbox in Point Roberts, Wa within a few days of
its appearance. Some joke!
Another
legacy is Canada's hotel industry. I once handled
promotion and advertising for the Cross
Family of the Calgary Brewing and Malting
Company, which also owned a province- wide chain of
country hotels. Our advertising theme was
“Alberta's famous doors of hospitality.”
Canada's great hotels are part of the legacy in
cities, towns and villages along the Yellowhead,
and I have had the honour of working with both the
Alberta and BC/ Yukon Hotel Associations. Hoteliers
are true pillars of the community and some of my
best friends are among them. I look forward to
visiting some of the famous and lesser known doors
of hospitality on the Yellowhead this summer and
fall. Shortly after, I developed and launched the
Alberta Nature Library for the Queens
Printer in Edmonton, forerunner of the
Africa
Travel and Nature
Library.
Other clients of mine in Alberta were the Shaw
Family, current owners of a cable television
and media empire - the Nickle Family of
petroleum fame, the Switzer and Libin
Familes, active in hotels and
properties.
Packaging
the Yellowhead Experience
At our Air and Marine Tourism Conference in
1998, Kevin Walker of Victoria gave a short course
on tour packaging that was a standout. Drawing from
years of hands-on experience as a family hotelier,
Kevin was one of the first to spot the Ecotourism
trend and the attraction of whale watching. His
efforts paid off in spades and started an
Ecotourism and Adventure tourism
bonanza.
In
"A
Yellowhead Journey Into
History"
written for Latitudes Magazine of Montreal, I was
also able to draw from experience, having traveled
much of the route by car and train at various
times. The marine highway on Canada's Pacific Coast
is another dimension that makes marketing travel on
the Yellowhead such a pleasure. The Yellowhead
Highway conjures up feelings of romance. Looking at
postcards of wilderness spots along its course,
brings to mind the musical Rose Marie with her red
coated Mountie, lusty songs of the voyageurs and
love call piercing the summer sky. That's the mood
I was after in the opening lines...
"Imagine
your auto or railway coach is a time-capsule.
cruising down a broad ribbon of Canadiana in the
wake of nomadic hunters, voyageurs, missionaries,
traders, sodbusters, fortune-seekers and railroad
builders. From Lake Manitoba to the Haida Gwa'ii,
it's a 2600 km journey into history, with Indian
encampments older than Egypt's great pyramids,
national parks, ancient shrines and battle sites.
Ethnic dances and pageants salute every facet of
our heritage. Before we dim the lights and start
the movie, you're curious to know how the name
Yellowhead was derived -- right? In the 1870s, a
roving guide, dubbed Tete Jaune for his golden
locks, gave title to a mountain Pass near Jasper
House and gained instant immortality.
"
Since
Parks Canada was our prime sponsor, what really
dawned on me in developing this story, was not just
the magnitude of this awesome journey through four
provinces and 3 time zones, but the bonanza of
travel opportunities the Yellowhead route offers in
packaging side trips to parks and historic places.
Each side trip, major city or area offers a tour
within itself ... from the Forks at Winnipeg and
Lower Fort Garry, to Riding Mountain National Park,
Saskatchewan's Qu'Apelle Valley, Watrous Lake,
Historic Batoche and the Battlefords, Alberta's Elk
Island Park, Edmonton's North Saskatchewan River
Valley, Rocky Mountain House, Jasper, Mount Robson,
Hazelton, Skeena River Country, Prince Rupert and
the misty islands of Haida Gwaii.
It's
a great big, eco-friendly package that offers
something for everyone, most especially our
American friends to whom we can guarantee a
relatively safe vacation or business trip .... at
an exchange rate that's loaded in their favour. So,
as George Lois, one of my mentors in
advertising used to say " If you've got it ...
flaunt it."
This
summer's "photo safari" on the Yellowhead by road
and rail, will help us map out some super fly-drive
tours, circle tours and mini tours for the benefit
of our readers and web site viewers around the
world. Yes, we plan to start with a ferry cruise
from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert on the Queen of
the North.
A
whole chapter could easily be devoted to my long
time friend and partner, the late Gary
Chaloner, who worked side by side with me on
many interesting and challenging projects including
the launch of Air Highways, Magazine of Open Skies
- and
Africa Travel
Magazine.
I still draw strength from his memory.
Packaging
Ecotourism: The Land, the Culture, the Wildlife
This being the International Year of
Ecotourism, sanctioned by the United Nations and
World Tourism Organization, that topic has been
high on my agenda. Ecotourism is defined as
"Traveling to relatively undisturbed or
uncontaminated natural areas with the specific
objective of studying, admiring and enjoying the
scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as
any existing cultural manifestations."
What
a turn of events is this example. Thanks to the
legacy of P. Lawson, I had the opportunity to
launch a television show we called "Where in the
World," reaching a Western Canadian audience. The
content reflected the days before Ecotourism became
part of our dictionary, when sun tans, beaches,
trade winds and the great escape led the travel
tourism agenda. Today, Ecotourism is all the rage,
as a different type of consumer is emerging,
seeking educational and cultural experiences, the
joys of nature, camera safaris, whale watching,
bird watching, wilderness adventure and much
more.
My
legacy of the 70s, was a series of projects for the
Propane Gas Industry, whose efforts to introduce
this alternative fuel source "Auto Propane" took me
across Canada, and Western USA, interviewing fleet
operators, airport limousine drivers and users of
every description. The end result was a library of
marketing, safety and training film strips and
videos. This experience sparked a keen interest in
the continuing development of alternatives fuels
and transportation innovations.
The Power of
Partnerships and our African Connection
The theme of our Air and Marine Tourism
Conference was "Links and Partnerships" which
reflects what is happening with organizations such
as the Yellowhead Trans Canada Highway Association.
While I had previously worked with and for
associations in accounting, hotels, petroleum,
housing, etc. the last 7 years brought something
completely different into my life spurred by the
power of strategic worldwide alliances.
In 1995, thanks to a quirk of fate, chance or
destiny, I was given a once in a lifetime
opportunity by the Bradford Group of New York, to
launch and operate an official magazine for the
Africa Travel Association. It's been a truly
rewarding experience. Learning the cultures of
various African countries and regions gives one an
appreciation of our own country's rich heritage.
Being amongst the herds of wildebeest and zebra is
a lesson that relates to our own caribou herds and
buffalo who were once as numerous on the Canadian
plains and tundra. Feeling the warmth,
friendliness, and appreciation of the local people,
moderately well off or desperately poor, is a
heartwarming experience and a lesson for all
Canadians. What I've seen of Canadians working in
Africa for great causes has made me extremely
proud.
The Africa Travel Association's strength has
been the ability to keep free of politics, while
involving tourism ministers and forming strategic
trade partnerships, some of whom I interact with on
a constant basis, such as:
WTO - the World Tourism Organization
USTOA- the United States Tour Operators
Association
ASTA - the American Society of Travel Agents
ARTA - the Association of Retail Travel
Agents
TIES - the International Ecotourism Society
One of my pet projects, the Peace Through
Tourism Movement was founded by my friend Louis d'
Amore who currently lives in Stowe, Vermont. The
IIPT held its first Global Summit in Vancouver 15
years ago, and we invite you to attend its 6th
Global Summit next February in Geneva, Switzerland.
Their lofty goal is the alleviation of poverty
through tourism.
Follow Your Passion and
Leave a Legacy.
This latest 'mantra' and theme of a popular best
seller is one we take to heart. Passion energized
the late Mira Berman of New York , former
ATA Executive Director and Elyse White of
Harlem, who traveled to Africa to attend every
congress for 27 years. Elyse was a powerful role
model. Others who encouraged me in ATA are the late
Fred Fuller from Ohio, Californians Ellen
Posell and Eunice Rawlings, Theo
Abediaye of Benin and Ambassador Duadi
Mwakawago` of Tanzania. Each of these angels
left a legacy.
Shortly after high school graduation, I worked
for a while on what is now the Dempster Highway,
near Dawson City, part of the Alaska Highway system
that leads to the top of the world. A year before,
it was a government survey crew travelling by pack
horse from Mayo in the central Yukon to the Canol
road built by the US Army to Norman Wells, NWT.
Perhaps the next milestone, or dream to be realized
will be a land bridge to Asia and Europe via
Siberia. Nothing is beyond comprehension in our
times if enough people follow their passion.
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.
Comment. One of the brightest angels on my
shoulder is my mother Violet, who served as
bookkeeper in our advertising and public relations
agency for 12 years and was a pillar of strength .
She passed away, while I was at an ATA Congress in
Guinea, West Africa.
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