Sheila Vanson, widow of TTG founder Leslie Stone, with the journal’s current news editor Samantha Mayling and editor Phil Davies
Travel Trade Gazette is celebrating its 50th birthday. TTG – now owned by CMPi – was started in 1953 with £500 by Leslie Stone, who had worked in the advertising department of the Daily Express.
The first issue was a four-page black-and-white publication, describing itself as “The National Weekly of the Travel and Holiday Services”.
Journalists writing for TTG in 1953 covered the travel allowance, which restricted the amount of currency people were allowed to exchange, and tourist air fares – there were just three first-class services between the UK and the Continent.
The journal also carried a story about Butlins, which had announced it was to expand on to the Continent, with plans to take over a hotel in Montreux. There was a plea for “more tolerance” from Scottish church leaders about the needs of tourists on Sundays, and in July, James Burness Travel was arranging flights to transport 14,000 pigeons from the UK for races in Bilbao, Nantes and Luxembourg.
TTG editor Phil Davies said staff were producing a 36-page supplement looking in-depth at different areas of the sector and asking industry leaders to talk about the future of travel.
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