Up Front With Martin B. Deutsch for 2003

November 13: Wine, Travel and Life Come Together at Morrell
Before Ronald Scharman arrived as chief executive of Morrell and Company, the family-owned wine merchant was known primarily in the New York area. "My mission was basically to build a lifestyle company and build brand awareness on a national scale," he explains. One of his tools: upscale travel, which explains why Morrell is now sponsoring a series of wine tours worldwide.

September 10: Tracking the Trends at the Top of the Market
There are only a few players at the summit of the luxury tour market and staying there is very much like being a three-star Michelin chef: You're always under intense scrutiny and you can't ever let up. It is in this context that Martin Deutsch introduces Tom Stanley of Travcoa, the luxury tour operator that will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary. He reports that bookings have "rebounded fantastically this year."

August 7: Eating the Big Apple
The richness and diversity of New York's restaurant scene is unparalleled anywhere on the planet. From $2.45 for the Recession Special (two great hot dogs and a fruit drink) at the justly world famous Gray's Papaya to $250 or more per head for a tasting menu with designated wines at any one of dozens of upscale eateries, New York's got it all. Martin tips you to some of the best.

May 29: Spirit Airlines Steps Out of the Shadows
In the pantheon of scheduled U.S. air carriers, Spirit Airlines barely registers on the radar screen. But Spirit is scheduled and real in every sense. Given the unfolding cataclysm at the major U.S. carriers, I'd bet that this low-profile, low-cost and currently profitable competitor is here to stay. On top of all that, Spirit's got a real history and, wonder of wonders, it is privately owned.

May 1: The Super Agent to the Superstars
The travel industry is in the deepest doldrums since the Wright Brothers first went airborne, but there's a travel agency in New York so chockablock with business that it is in the market for additional help and the current staff is getting more beeper and cellphone calls than ever. That's because Bill Fischer is the super agent to the superstars.

April 3: The State of Tourism in the 50th State
David Carey, who heads Outrigger Enterprises, Hawaii's largest lodging firm, assesses the impact of the Iraq War on travel to the 50th State, which has already felt the horrific effects of 9/11, the protracted global recession, the uncertainties posed by Saddam and his counterpart in North Korea and the resulting malaise that has gripped the tourism industry.

February 18: The Deutsch Cure for Stress Reiterated
I reiterate a long-held belief that the ultimate cure for business-travel stress is a cruise. There's a different dynamic at work on a cruise ship. Once parked in your stateroom, that's it until you debark, whether that's a week or two weeks later. Whatever the length of the cruise, you unpack and repack only once.

January 7: A Realistic Approach to African Travel
Norman Pieters, born in the Belgian Congo and raised in South Africa, these days owns and operates Karell African Dream Vacations. He strikes me as something of an anomaly in today's travel industry. He not only seems affable and honest, but he also recognizes that you cannot divorce tourism from the everyday realities of a treacherous and uncertain world. Put another way, he doesn't have his head in the sand.

Copyright © 2001-2004 by Martin B. Deutsch. All rights reserved.