SATA, the South and Central America Travel Association, held it’s annual Christmas Celebration December 14th under the Florida moonlit sky over Miami. It was a glorious night of celebration and acknowledgment sponsored by ProExport Colombia.
Travel professionals may recall the Focus Latin America educational program from the 80’s. It was a full 8 hour day seminar educating retail travel agents through out the United States and Canada about destinations in Central and South America. It had four of the most prominent and knowledgeable speakers on Latin America, Jim Woodman of latintravel.com, Michele Shelburne of Ladatco Tours, David Moore of Adventure Associates, and Oscar Lobo of American Express.
According to Hermine Taramona of Tara Tours “when Oscar became ill I was asked to create a backup presentation should he not be able to present anymore. By doing so Oscar was able to say YES to William Coleman, originator of Focus Latin America, when asked if he would be always be able to continue speaking. As one of the four outstanding speakers Lobo was dynamic in his presentations to the retail travel agent community often bringing them to their feet after his final words. Unfortunately we lost Oscar Lobo in 1994.”
Up until that time, all of those who dedicated themselves to the promotion of South and Central America had no formal recognition from their piers. Hermine Taramona, Tara Tours proposed that the Oscar Lobo Award be born to do just that.
The Oscar Lobe Award recognizes an individual who:
* Has established himself/herself in the South & Central American travel and tourism industry
* Has shown a heartfelt commitment to promote travel and tourism to South & Central America
* Is recognized by the travel trade as influential or well networked
* And is a mentor to his/her peers
This year’s recipient is multi-lingual and was born in Montevideo . His professional life has always been in aviation beginning with Air Paraguay. In 1990 TAM Airlines acquired Air Paraguay and he was transferred from Montevideo to Rio de Janeiro and eventually to Los Angeles. In 1992 he came to Miami as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. In 2008 he was nominated Director for TAM’s North American operations overseeing all aspects of their operations in the United States . Canada and the Caribbean. He has been a proactive participant in all SATA events educating and promoting South and Central America and along with his sales team continued to provide unconditional support to SATA and all of its USA based supplier members. The 18th recipient of the prestigious Oscar Lobo award was presented (pictured above) by Hermine Taramona, Tara Tours to Jose Sampol, TAM Airlines for his heartfelt commitment to the promotion of tourism to South and Central America .
SATA, www.sata.travel.com