A lot happened in 1984, and Business Travel News was born in May of that year.
To explain why I personally need a history lesson in corporate travel management, here's what shocked my world that year. Madonna had caused controversy by wearing her wedding dress at the first MTV Video Music Awards. Twenty years later, I will be sitting in the BTN office. I read Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities when I was in sixth grade.th Grade English Class – I can't tell you how lucky I am in life to be able to travel to London and Paris and many other wonderful cities many times.
I loved watching Scooby-Doo in between reruns (in my living room, eating potato chips), but it also gave me a glimpse of what was going on at school. A wider world. The latter is largely thanks to my parents, who by 1984, along with 46 percent of American households, were betting on cable TV. Check out his highlight reel for the full picture.
1984: Historical Highlight Reel
Apple has released a Super Bowl ad for its first Macintosh computer, set in a dystopian world inspired by George Orwell's 1984 novel. It was directed by Ridley Scott. His first Mac was released two days after his.
Iraq is suspected of using chemical weapons against Iran, killing 2,500 people. A United Nations investigation found convincing evidence of mustard gas and nerve agents. It condemns that habit. US President Ronald Reagan called for an international ban on chemical weapons.
A bomb explodes in the baggage area of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2. 23 people were injured. The anarchist group Angry Brigades claimed the action, but British authorities have identified a Libyan group potentially linked to violent demonstrations that took place days earlier.
Bruce Springsteen releases his album “Born in USA.''
Sarajevo will host the Winter Olympics. Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics. Russia is boycotting the latter.
Virgin Atlantic has operated its first flight from London Gatwick Airport to Newark, New Jersey.
Beverly Barnes will become the first female captain of a Boeing 747 on its maiden voyage.
British geneticist Alec Jeffreys developed genetic “fingerprinting,” the ability to identify people by their DNA. Eventually, forensic scientists will be able to help solve crimes (and there will be dozens of true crime shows on TV).
tv series Happy days It will be abolished after 11 years.
For corporate travel management, 1984 marked several turning points, with significant changes occurring beneath the surface of the industry. Computerization, or what is called today “digitization”, was a big question mark for many players. Travel management companies in particular were grappling with moving highly manual, person-to-person services into the new digital era. Investing in unproven technology seemed like a risk, and the profit margins in corporate travel, then and now, seemed too thin to make a one-time investment that might not be permanent. Ta.
But the companies that did it well were acquiring what were just then consolidated into the now-familiar “corporate accounts,” the largest of which included names like DuPont, Sperry, IBM, and Xerox. had.
Two lead articles on the first cover of Business Travel News touted the coup in which Rosenbluth International secured $100 million from corporate client DuPont.
