Travel's My Game

About the Book

This true story starts with the authorÕs first thoughts, at a very early age, of entering the travel industry. His teen years and young adult life are touched upon, including education, both formal and informal, complete with some brief encounters and references to sex edificationÉagain, all true. The authorÕs entry into the exciting business of travel was a combination of a huge amount of luck and of simply being in the right place at the right time; it had nothing to do with an abundance of brainpower! He was a high-school dropout and was raised, not in rags, but far from riches, during the Great Depression. He was determined, however, with encouragement from both parents but primarily his father, to work very hard, extend his education, and be the most he could be. The author believes that he achieved this in the travel business. Eventually, by climbing slowly up a very high ladder, he finally sat at the desk where the Òbuck stoppedÓÉin a multi-million-dollar Canadian travel company. He slipped from that ladder frequently, but always managed to get up and somehow get the job done. In this account, the inside workings of the travel business in Canada are revealed, especially as it was developing in the Ôforties, Ôfifties, Ôsixties, and beyond. A readerÕs eyes may be opened by some behind-the-scenes revelations of how a tour product is priced and marketed, and how a tour operator Òoperates.Ó Readers will enjoy their trip.

About the Author

Bert Ollivier's career in the travel industry began in Toronto with University Tours Limited, a retail travel agency. During the 1950s and early '60s, within the industry, it was said that the difference between a travel retailer and a tour operator or travel wholesaler was about 24 hours. And so it happened, in the early 1960s, that University Tours Ltd. became a wholesale travel/tour operator almost overnight, under the name of UTL Holiday Tours. Bert, who had started as an agent-in-training, eventually worked his way to the top, occasionally with some slightly unorthodox methods, before resigning from UTL in 1980.

Almost immediately, Ollivier formed a small consulting company, known as Travelfax Consultants Limited, which he still operates. By 1982, he was once again in the thick of the travel game, opening the first Canadian office for his new client, the State of Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau. Ollivier retired from HV&CB in 1995, but came out of retirement in 1996 to act as an account manager and a columnist specializing in Hawaii and the South Pacific for GSA Travel Magazine. Complete information on GSA Travel Magazine is available at www.gsapublishing.com

A CTC (Certified Travel Counsellor) in Canada and the U.S.A., Bert has been active in various travel industry associations. He is a past president of the Ontario chapter of ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) and served on the ASTA board of directors from 1963 through 1965. He was founding member of the education committees of both ASTA and the Alliance of Canadian Travel Agents. Ollivier is also a Rotarian, a Royal Canadian Legionnaire and a member of SKAL, an international travel club.

Bert and his wife Juanita, live in Nanaimo on British Columbia's Vancouver Island. They can be contacted at bjollivier@shaw.ca or by phone/fax 250-751-2219.