Mira's
passion for Africa inspired countless others to
greater achievements during her 16 year term as
Executive Director of the Africa Travel Association
(ATA). She entered my life in 1995, turning it in
an entirely new direction by providing a positive
way to bring the good news about Africa, Africans
and ATA to the world. Our avenue of
communication was Africa Travel Magazine in print
and online. Thanks to her guidance and support, we
made giant strides towards changing perceptions
about Africa; presenting a far different picture
from the negative news reports by the mainstream
media. Through Mira, I received the "gift of a
lifetime" - an opportunity to learn about Africa
first-hand, from the inside, with personal
introductions to tourism ministers, heads of state
and hundreds of African travel and tourism
professionals from across the continent and
diaspora. Many of those I met at ATA Congresses,
Symposia and Media Tours have become life-long
friends and supporters.
Respected
ATA member and well known hotelier, Roger
Kacou, provides a fitting capsule of Mira's
contribution with the following statement, "Mira
was one of these persons that you would think,
would be with us forever. Life has decided
otherwise, but she will be remembered as THE
ONE that has put the African continent on the map.
Her dedication to the Africa promotion was
unique and she will be difficult to replace. Our
mandate is now to honor her memory by fighting for
the same causes that she did, and try to further
develop Africa tourism."
Her efforts with
the Africa Travel Association opened the doors to
developing new business opportunities between
American and African enterprises. Another main
achievement was attracting corporate sponsorships
from Revlon, AT&T, American Express, Engen and
others. She renewed and forged cooperation with the
World Tourism Organization (WTO,) American Society
of Travel Agents (ASTA), Association of Retail
Travel Agents (ARTA) and the United States Tour
Operators Association (USTOA).
Photo (right):
Mira with Uganda President Museveni at his cattle
ranch, following a helicopter trip from Kampala by
Mira Berman, Jerry W. Bird and Muguette Goufrani.
2004.
Another close
friend, IIbrahima Diallo, former Director
General, National Office of Tourism, Guinea had
these kind words: "It is with a heavy heart that
I learned of the death of Mira Berman. But let me
say that in Guinea and in all of Africa this brave
and dynamic woman will always live and keep her
place in our memories. She will inspire our actions
for the emergence and development of tourism. Mira
has done for Africa much more than many Africans.
She is African in her heart. Her Guinean friends
surely hold a ceremony in her memory. The ATA
Congress in Guinea is still alive. My condolences
to the team and all friends of the
ATA.."
Transportation
and Routes
Mira was a supporter of improved and
enhanced transportation to, from and throughout
Africa, as expressed by the following statement,
"In evaluating Africa's transportation scene, ATA
members can be considered among the most astute
judges of all. Since our launch in 1976 at a
Congress in Nairobi, Kenya, ATA members have flown
on every airline serving the continent and its
offshore islands, and have boarded regional
carriers that crisscross, this vast expanse of
geography, linking dozens of emerging cities and
towns. Some have gone by train, or enjoyed
waterborne adventures along the coastline of two
oceans, plus the majestic Mediterranean, or on
Africa's historic canals, lakes and
rivers."
Mira is listed in
Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Women,
Who's Who in Advertising, The Financial Publicists
Directory and Foremost Women in Communications. She
served on the National Advertising Review Board of
the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
She taught Public Relations, Advertising and Radio
and Television at the ASTA Congress and workshops.
She served as President of SATH ( Society for the
Advancement of Travel for the Handicapped),
Executive Director of North American Travel
Association and Women Executive International
Tourism Association. She was a past director of The
National Council of Women of the USA.
Hon.
Shamsa S. Mwangunga, Tanzania: "On behalf of
the Ministry and myself, and also on behalf of the
Tanzania tourism business community, I am writing
to convey our condolences on the death of Ms.
Berman. Mira was a long-standing partner in
Tanzania's tourism promotion in the United States
and worldwide and will be sorely missed by us all.
I am glad that I was able to work with her since my
appointment as Minister of Natural Resources and
Tourism."
Karen
Hoffman: "Mira's loss will leave a big
vacuum in our professional and personal lives. We
know that Mira will be remembered by all those in
Africa whose lives she has touched for her passion
and love for Africa and its people and her
commitment to pushing an agenda of increasing
tourism and investment to the continent in a
sustainable and meaningful way. All of us at The
Bradford Group will continue our dedication to the
work she has done with the same commitment and
passion that she taught us to have, and that is her
enduring legacy she left for all of us."
Eddie Bergman: "As Executive
Director of ATA for sixteen years, Mira was
instrumental in building the foundation for our
organization, committing her time, passion,
resources and energy to ATA from 1990 to 2006. Mira
devoted her life to making the world a better place
and will be remembered as one of the amazing women
of our times." Eddie Bergman, Executive Director,
Africa Travel Association
Mira
Berman: Miracle Worker
Speaking of life's "miracles," it was
a blessing that Mira was not among those lost
in the 1940s Holocaust, having escaped with her
mother and sister to begin a new life in New York
City, where she was a child prodigy on the violin,
a sign of her blossoming creative gifts and destiny
for greater things to come.
Mira Berman was
active on many fronts, serving as Executive
Director of The Academy of Tourism Organizations
(ATO) and its NOAH Awards Luncheon; Project
Director for the Society for the Advancement of
Travel for the Handicapped (SATH) and its Travelers
With Disabilities Awareness Week. She served as:
Vice Chair, Organization Committee for the 50th
Anniversary Gala Dinner for the United Nations, and
on the Executive Committee of the Celebrity Gala
Ball to benefit the United Negro College
Fund.
Photo
(above) Zakia Menghi, former ATA President and
Tourism Minister, Tanzania (left), Mira Berman
(right).
Photo (left) Dino Chingungi, former Tourism
Minister, Angola, Louis D' Amore, Founder
International Institure for Peace Through Tourism;
Mira Berman.
She drew on a diversity of talents in directing
successful advertising and public relations
programs for national, international and regional
accounts. A writer, musician, author and marketing
expert, Ms. Berman demonstrated outstanding talent
in marketing communications, being elected
Advertising Woman of the year in 1971. In both 1971
and 1972, The International Film and TV Festival
awarded her Television's Gold Medal; and in 1973,
she was recipient of the International Film &
TV Festival's Grand Award for the production
"Israel 25 -- a Celebration", a two-hour special,
which was aired on the ABC Network and subsequently
syndicated.
A
regular lecturer for the American Management
Association, Mira Berman was cochairman with
Malcolm P. McNair, then Lincoln Filene Professor of
Retailing at Harvard's Graduate School of Business,
of the Conference on Marketing through Retailing
which AMA sponsored. The book, Marketing Through
Retailers, edited by Professor McNair and Ms.
Berman, was published in the U.S., Mexico and
Japan. She was cochairman with Walter H. Johnson,
vice-chairman of Saturday Review/World, of the AMA
Conference on Managing Profit and Growth in World
Travel and Tourism. Ms. Berman served on the
faculty of The New School for Social Research,
teaching in the Master Degree program in Tourism
& Travel Administration.
With all of the
preceeding accolades. awards and achievements in
American business, Mira Berman will be best loved
and best known for her outstanding success in
"Bringing the World to Africa - and Africa to the
World."
Mira has truly
become an Angel on my shoulder.
More
Condolences
Mariama Ludovic de Lys, Bamako, Mali:
"So Sad indeed. All my sincere condolences to
all of you."
Elimbi Ebénézer, Ministry of
Tourism, Yaounde, Cameroon: "Thank you for
informing me.It's a BIG loss for ATA and for
African destinations.May her soul rest in
peace."
Ogo Sow, Atlanta: " Karen Hoffman introduced
me to Mira in 1999 at the occasion of the State and
official visit of the former President of Tanzania
in America and after that day Mira opened the doors
of the mother continent Africa to me to learn
about my own continent in terms of culture
tourism,safari tourism,beach tourism, sports
tourism,history tourism and business tourism ...to
show the world that Africa is ready for business
....and ATA lost a great Leader in terms of
helping Africans to work-together in terms of intra
Africa tourism development and
investment ."
Rev.
Margaret Bolanle Idowu Fabiyi, Lagos, Nigeria:
"Sister Mira has left a good legacy - the
African-American Tourism Vision of opening gateway
to Africa in which many countries are
benefiting today, by influx of tourists and
increase in their foreign exchange earnings,
friendship, happiness at ATA
Congresses".
Wolfgang
Thome., Uganda Tourism Association: "Thank
you and God bless her soul"
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