Jean-Philippe Perol has been named chairman of the European Travel Commission for a one-year term through November 2008. A seasoned professional, he has nearly 35 years of experience in tourism in both public and private sectors.

Currently director for the Americas at Maison de la France, the official French tourism office based in New York, he has spent more than 12 years with the organization. Joining as marketing director in 1988, he has headed operations as director in Latin America and Germany. From 1998 to 2003, he was CEO for the entire Maison de la France organization, based in Paris. He has held the New York post since 2003.

During Perol’s tenure at Maison de la France the membership network of tourism companies increased 60%. He played an important role in creating the MDLF’s International Advisory Board, tour operators from around the world recognized for their contribution to developing French tourism, and also ensured the smooth transition of marketing into the online arena.

Perol began his career at Air France in 1972, first as a trainee in the tour operating subsidiary Jet Tours in Rio, and then in the Marketing department where he helped open new routes in Rio de Janeiro and Caracas for the Concorde.

In 1976, when he was named Director for the Amazon, he opened Manaus for the airline, bringing the first B747 into the heart of the Amazon forest. In 1980 he briefly ran his own incoming agency in Manaus, Safari Turismo, which was folded into Wagons-Lits Tourism when he became General Manager in Brazil, subsequently more than doubling the company’s travel agency network. On returning to France in 1985, he directed incoming ground operations for Wagons-Lits Tourism before assuming the post of director of all entire tour operation from 1985 to 1988.

Perol holds a degree from the Institut d Etudes Politiques de Paris, a degree in history from the Sorbonne and a PHD in Business administration from Dauphine.