ETOA, the European tourism association, is deeply saddened to announce that Nick Greenfield, Head of Tour Operator Relations, died on Sunday morning, following an eight-year battle with cancer. He had been working continually until last week.
After freelancing for several years, Nick joined ETOA full time in 2010 as Head of Tour Operator Relations. Having run the London office for NETC, Nick had experience of operations and had also worked as a tour guide. Guiding was an abiding passion; he went back on the road at least once a year.
Nick combined a hunger for culture with a passion for sharing his knowledge. This ranged from expositions on the Sienese Trecento to planning games to enthuse American schoolchildren in the Louvre. He knew his subject: there was not a country in Europe he had not visited and understood. In Italy, his first love, there was not a province that he did not know. He was a gifted linguist. In French, German, Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Croatian and Slovenian he had full fluency “I am not” he conceded to an amazed Belgian “a normal Englishman”.
Nick wore this lightly: his most obvious attributes were a passion for sport and a vast compendium of jokes.
Tom Jenkins, CEO, said: “The industry has lost a mine of information and a stalwart defender of its interests. His friends and colleagues have lost a great and gentle companion.”
