The Bradford-born industry stalwart held the role with the association from 1986 to 1989, during which time he also ran the northern arm of travel company Intasun Holidays, later renamed International Leisure Group, which grew to become the second-largest tour operator in the UK before its demise in 1991.
While he was managing director at Intasun, Smith found time to dedicate at least two days a week to Abta and was responsible for raising the association’s profile within parliament and the media.
Much of his time was spent on Abta’s reconstitution process which saw him travel to all its UK regions. He was also one of the founders of the Abta Benevolent Fund, now Abta LifeLine.
As well as serving as president, Smith was a member of Abta’s Tour Operators Council from 1980 to 1986, becoming its chair in 1984, before taking on the Abta presidency. He was once responsible for taking 5,000 British travel agents to a convention in Australia.
Former head of corporate affairs at Abta, Keith Betton, paid tribute to his colleague, telling TTG he was a very popular industry figure who many will remember.
“Jack was a consummate communicator," said Betton. "He was popular with the media and he was always willing to talk to newspapers, whether national or local.
“He had to deal with some thorny issues in the late 1980s. Fuel surcharges were a major problem at that time and were completely unregulated. This also came at time when holiday discounting was a new phenomenon and all of these things caused relationships between travel agents and tour operators to be tense.”
Smith was instrumental in keeping all sides of the industry at peace, Betton added. “Jack’s calm nature made him a popular figure with everyone."
Commenting on his passing over the weekend, a spokesperson for Abta said: “We are very sorry to hear of the passing of Jack Smith. He was a huge figure at Abta, a very motivational speaker and above all else, a kind man and highly regarded colleague.
"As well as his role as president at Abta, Jack was also one of the founders of the Abta Benevolent Fund – now Abta LifeLine – which has been such a vital support for so many colleagues in the industry across the years."
