Arnie Weissmann

Journalist Arnie Weissmann has been involved in virtually every aspect of travel media over the past 40 years. His travel articles appeared in dozens of consumer media outlets, from the Washington Post to the LA Times, before he launched the travel industry's first destination information service (Weissmann Travel Reports, now incorporated into Travel42), which provides frequently updated, unbiased profiles of every country in the world.

He also authored a best-selling geography textbook and created the first core destination content for America Online. After selling his company to Reed Elsevier, he was named group publisher for Star Service (critical hotel and cruise reviews), Official Hotel Guide Worldwide and a dozen OAG-branded publications in the UK. In 1999, he took on the role of senior advisor for business development with Northstar Travel Group and in October 2001 was appointed editor in chief of Travel Weekly, the primary source of news, research, analysis and opinion in the U.S. travel industry. He is also an Executive Vice President and Editorial Director for its parent company (Northstar).

Weissmann has spoken at SXSW, CES and the World Economic Forum (North Africa and Middle East) as well as industry conferences on six continents. He is a regular contributor to the Public Broadcasting Service television program The Travel Detective, and his comments have appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, BBC, Sky News and NPR. He has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and USA Today, among other media outlets, and has been a repeat guest lecturer at Cornell University. His writing, photography and video have won dozens of national and international awards.