At its winter board meeting, taking place Nov. 29 in Dallas, veteran travel correspondent Peter Greenberg and the late Gary Sain will be inducted into the U.S. Travel Hall of Leaders, the U.S. Travel Association announced this week.
Greenberg and Sain will be honored during a dinner attended by more than 100 travel industry leaders, who also will celebrate Tom Nides, deputy secretary of the U.S. State Department for management and resources, and consular officers around the world for dramatically improving the visa experience for travelers from other countries wishing to visit the United States.
"Peter Greenberg and Gary Sain, in differing ways, each made invaluable contributions to our industry by giving voice to the value and extraordinary experiences available through travel in the United States. This is a well-deserved recognition, and I look forward to joining the rest of the travel community in honoring them," said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow. "At the same time, Tom Nides and the consular officers deserve our thanks and recognition for addressing a longstanding challenge, which has resulted in dramatic improvements in the visa experiences for millions of travelers around the world who want to visit our country. It has resulted in billions of dollars in new business for the American economy and helped create thousands of new travel-related jobs."
Currently travel editor for CBS News and host of a nationally syndicated radio show, Greenberg is among the country's most recognized travel news journalists. Sain, on the other hand — who died last month — spent more than three decades in various positions in the travel industry, most recently as president and CEO of Visit Orlando. He also served as a member of U.S. Travel's executive committee and board of directors, helping advance numerous issues, including visa reform, and defending the value of business travel and meetings and conventions.
Sain and Greenberg join 86 travel industry professionals who have been inducted into the U.S. Travel Hall of Leaders since it was created in 1969. The 2011 inductees were U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Don Freeman, chairman of the Freeman Companies.