PHOTO: The Tauck extended family gathered at Lake Louise to kick off a year of celebration of its 90th anniversary. (Courtesy of Tauck)
In its 90-year history, Tauck, the tour operator par excellence, has learned how to throw a great party. It dates back to its now legendary beginning in 1925 when the young Arthur Tauck Senior, inventor turned salesman traveling the country to sell his innovative coin tray to banks, got the idea one day to bring other people along for the ride.
His first ad as a tour operator in the Newark Evening News says it all: "All I want is a congenial party. Ten minutes after leaving Newark, we shall be just one happy party, properly chaperoned, out for a real good time. I want no grouches or pessimists. There will always be from one to three cars in the party. The more the merrier."
Now nine decades and incalculable thousands of parties, tours and events later, the company gathered at Chateau Lake Louise in Banff National Park in Alberta Canada for a four-day celebration to kick off Tauck's 90th anniversary.
Tauck gathered 500 of its employees, board members and business partners together for a Canadian Rocky Mountain High celebration of all the company has stood for for nearly a century. The Tauck organization brought all its history and experience of tour operating and event planning to bear to make it an event never to be forgotten.
Addressing the group were Arthur Tauck Jr., the son of the founder who led the company since the early 1950s, and still provides the spiritual leadership of the company as chairman, and Dan Mahar, the CEO and son in law of Arthur Tauck Jr.
As Mahar noted in his keynote address, only 12 percent of family businesses survive into the third generation of family ownership, and well into its third generation, Tauck "isn't just surviving - it's absolutely thriving."
The Banff event was the official kick-off of a series of events proclaiming the 90th anniversary of Tauck.
The company will mark the 90th anniversary with a virtual Tauck Time Capsule mounted on its website marking major points in the company's history. It allows people to add their own memories and experiences to the list.
Tauck also launched the "Where in the World is Arthur Tauck?" photo project in which people will be invited to take photos of a 1920s vintage photo of the founder on Tauck itineraries worldwide. Information about how to participate is posted on the company's website.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
