Geoffrey J W Kent - WTTC Global Summit 2015

Geoffrey JW Kent, born July 14, 1942, is the founder and co-chairman of Abercrombie & Kent, an international luxury travel company. He is credited with introducing the first luxury photographic African safari in 1962.

Early life

Geoffrey Kent was born on 14 July 1942 while his parents, Colonel John and Valerie Kent, were on safari in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

. Kent attended the

Duke of York School Lenana School is a secondary school in Nairobi, Kenya. It was formed in 1949 by colonial governor Philip Euen Mitchell, known then as the Duke of York School, named after a British World War II King George V-class battleship (1939), 1939 King G ...

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

and then the

Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

. He saw service in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Malta.

Career

While in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, he joined his parents in founding Abercrombie & Kent. Influenced by his time in the military, Kent repositioned the

safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...

experience as a "hunt with a camera, not with a gun". He introduced the first mobile tented safaris with

refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

that made it possible to have fresh meat, fruit, vegetables and ice in the bush. By 1967, Kent's parents retired and he transformed Abercrombie & Kent from a service providing luxury safari camps and lodges to a more general luxury travel service. Kent pioneered travel by private jet with The Royal Air Tour in 1989, having been the first to feature the

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

Supersonic Jet with

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

Awards and honours

Kent is a founding member of the

World Travel and Tourism Council The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is a forum for the travel and tourism industry. It is made up of members from the global business community and works with governments to raise awareness about the travel and tourism industry. It is know ...

. He served as a Chairman of the council for 6 years. In 2021 he was awarded the Global Icon Award and made an Honorary Member of WTTC. He was inducted into the British Travel and Hospitality Industry Hall of Fame on April 17, 2012, for inventing the concept of experiential travel. Kent received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ''Travel Weekly'' Readers Choice Awards in 2014. Kent has been appointed the

Honorary Consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

of the

Republic of Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

Television

''To the Ends of the Earth with Geoffrey Kent'' aired on the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

in 1994 with Lauren Hutton in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

and James Brolin in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. The series received two nominations for the

Cable ACE Award The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Ame ...

Philanthropy

In 1982 Kent and then wife Jorie Butler Kent founded Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy, a non-profit organization for protecting ecosystems and wildlife that also supports local communities. It was recognized by the World Travel and Tourism Council's ''Tourism for Tomorrow Awards'', ''Condė Nast Traveler'' with their ''World Savers Award'' for leadership in social responsibility, and by ''Travel + Leisure'' with their ''Global Vision Award'' for Leadership in Philanthropic Travel.

Personal life

He had one son with first wife, Andrea Joss. In the 1970s, he began working with Jorie Ford Butler of

Oak Brook, Illinois Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace H ...

, to expand Abercrombie & Kent in the United States. They married in 1978 but later divorced. He married Otavia Jardim in 2010, and they have two children. Kent was a player as Captain of the

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

/Abercrombie & Kent team

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

team, winning the U.S. Open Polo Championship twice, the U.S. Gold Cup, the Cartier International, and the World Open Championship. He served as captain and patron of the Windsor Park polo team.Eskenazi, G
"A Prince's Game Hopes to Gather a Common Audience"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', November 11, 1985

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Geoffrey 1942 births Kenyan businesspeople Living people Kenyan people of British descent Alumni of Lenana School Polo players