Alex Harris's gentle manner belies his 60 years as a mover and
shaker in the tourism industry. This Ellis Island Medal of Honor
recipient took the first American tourists to the Soviet Union and
China, and became the leading tour operator in Poland, Hungary and
other eastern European destinations. He co-founded the not-for-profit
U.S. Tour Operators in the 1970s and co-founded the American
Tourism Society in the 1980s. He believes with his whole heart that
tourism can break down barriers, bringing friendship and peace to a
troubled world.
In 2005 Harris met King Abdullah of Jordan, and together they
organized multinational conferences and seminars. At the most
recent conference, held this past May in Jerusalem, Egyptian, Israeli,
Jordanian and Palestinian political and travel representatives met to
discuss tourism in the Middle East. Plans are underway for a spring
2007 conference in Croatia or Romania, followed by meetings in
Washington, D.C. with the U.S. State and Commerce Departments
and representatives from Central and Eastern Europe, and the
Middle East.
Harris sees tour operators as the creative arm of the travel industry.
His company, General Tours, just celebrated its sixtieth anniversary.
Harris is at work on films in several languages about his "journey to
erase the lines that divide."
