Canadian Travel Hall Of Fame 2023 Profiles: Susan Bowman

Susan Bowman is honoured. She's proud. But she's also a little perplexed.

"I couldn't stop thinking, 'Why me?' when I got the news that I was being inducted into the Canadian Travel Hall of Fame," Bowman said, during a delightful one-hour phone interview.

"I just think of myself as a normal worker. It's not like I started an airline."

She may not have sent planes into the air, but Susan Bowman is anything but a 'normal worker.' Over 44 years in the travel industry, she helped companies and colleagues take flight, with a combination of skills, passion and commitment.

"In my experience, if you do your job well consistently-- and you are passionate, you will succeed," Bowman told TPC's Marsha Mowers for a 2019 profile.

She retired on April 7, 2023, after 12 years as Vice President, Marketing and Industry Relations with Transat. It was the last stop in a career that saw her earn prominent roles in leading companies including American Express Canada, INTRA Travel Corporation, Thomas Cook Travel and Loyalty One.

In announcing Bowman's retirement, here's what Transat Distribution Canada general manager Karine Gagnon had to say about this 'normal worker.'

"Susan has been an essential asset to our leadership team," Gagnon wrote. "Her keen eye for opportunity, her consistent focus around customer experiences and her passion for what she likes to call "home" (Transat) have made her a key player in our organization. In her role, she collaborated with many of you on different fronts, and I am sure you could appreciate her professionalism and experience in our industry."

Bowman studied Travel & Tourism at Toronto's Centennial College in the early 1980s. Her actual travel experiences prior to that were humble, mostly car-camping trips with her parents as a child and teenager. So it wasn't so much the 'travel bug' that grabbed her as a fascination with the business side of the industry.

"Travel is a dream, but it's also a mega-business," says Bowman. "It has all the normal business functions, but it also brings opportunities to travel and enjoy experiences that make for great stories at Saturday night dinner parties. People always love to hear about where you've been. Travel is truly an amazing industry in which to have a front-row seat."

Bowman's first experience in the industry was as an unpaid intern at Strand Holidays, where she learned the basics of the business, from accounting to ticketing. But her first experience at the corporate level came during nearly nine years spent with American Express Canada, which she described as "like going to business school."

"Companies like Amex, Thomas Cook and Air Miles had major training programs with strong levels and rigour. You learned fast, and you learned from experts. To this day I can spot someone who was trained at American Express. They really invested in their people and it showed," Bowman said.

She credits her experience working with leading industry entrepreneurs like Transat's Jean-Marc Eustache and Thomas Cook Travel's Michael Friisdahl for her ability to take on projects with confidence and without fear.

"These are the kind of people who let you take something from an idea all the way through to an outcome and then to measurement of success. You have to have strong upper management who trusts you. There have only been a couple of times in my career where I've worked for someone with the attitude 'you just sit there and do what we tell you.' I'm like a bird in a cage in situations like that," Bowman says.

"To be successful, you need strong people around you," she adds. "I have been blessed at Transat to work with people like Jean-Marc and Karine, Annick Guerard and Joe Adamo. And I've worked with many other dynamic leaders over the years. It's been an absolute joy."

Anyone who knows Susan Bowman recognizes her enormous energy and youthful vitality. It came as a surprise to this writer to learn she has turned 65 - and it seems it was a bit of a surprise to her as well.

"I got a letter from the government telling me that I'm old," she laughs, referring to correspondence about her eligibility to apply for her Canada Pension Plan benefits. "It came as a shock, but it also made me think of the advice we always give to clients about following their travel dreams while they're young enough and healthy enough to do it. So it got me thinking about following my own advice."

Many people find that their work friends slip away quickly following retirement, but Bowman says she's not worried about that because the travel industry is unique in how members - even fierce competitors - bond during trips and the many industry events.

"I'm so happy I chose the travel industry. It's a place where the people seem to come with you," Bowman says. "When I think about who will be at the TravelPulse Canada Readers' Choice Awards, so many of them I have worked beside, worked with or worked for. I'll bet that three-quarters of the audience will be people I consider friends."

Bowman is also amazed at how the travel industry has developed over her four decade-plus career. "When I started with Strand Holidays, all-inclusive meant the Seawind Beach Resort in Jamaica where you could trade three plastic bananas for a pina colada. Now you can have an incredible five-star all-inclusive experience at hundreds of resorts."

She says a pandemic cruise on AmaWaterways in November 2021 was an amazing demonstration of how far the industry has come. "River cruising didn't really exist when I started in the business. And here I was on this amazing ship, amidst an atmosphere where the rules changed with every day and every destination. And somehow, the crew made it seamless and wonderful and managed to have everyone on board happy."

Enjoying more experiences like that is a priority for Bowman as she enters retirement. On the night of the TravelPulse Canada Readers' Choice Awards, Bowman and her husband will have just returned from a month in Asia. A trip to Egypt last year "got into my soul," Bowman says, and she's eager to take advantage of more free time by "exploring bigger, making plans and opening my eyes to the world."

Bowman says the business of travel will always have its ups and downs, and is currently in a state of great change and flux. But she is nothing but optimistic for the future of the industry where she spent her life.

"Business is back, but it's not the same. We're seeing a real escalation in people moving, changing jobs, leaving the industry and joining the industry. It's all over the place right now, and the key is to get the business stabilized. But consumers are always going to love to travel, that will never go away."

The pandemic was a nightmare for travel professionals, but it also had the unexpected effect of adding new relevance to the role, which had been chipped away by factors like the Internet and direct sales.

"If you had a booking made without an agent, you were on your own," Bowman says. "The travel professional has really shown their strength. Anybody can book A to B online, but what people have realized is what they're missing, and that includes things to look out for and things not to miss. Agents now know how much value they can add, and I think they'll be appreciated for a long time to come."

With her richly deserved induction into the Canadian Travel Hall of Fame, Susan Bowman's contribution to the industry will also be appreciated for years to come.