Paul Dube has been all over
the world and has watched
the evolution of the travel industry.
LEWISTON
There’s a world map at Paul Dube’s office, stuck with pins for every spot he’s visited.
Egypt, China, Honduras, Bermuda, Italy. Dozens of them.
“Traveling to me is an opportunity for education,” said Dube, at his desk on Thursday, surrounded by photos and keepsakes from around the globe.
“The more I travel,” he said about the people he’s seen and met, “the more I learn that we’re all alike.”
This month, his family celebrates the 40th anniversary of Dube Travel, which has come to be a landmark in downtown Lewiston. It’s one of the oldest continuous enterprises on Lisbon Street.
The business has gone up and down with a changing industry, from the start of the jet age, to the cruise concept and the slow recovery from 9/11. Dube also watched the evolution of the city.
“When I opened up, these mills were in full bloom,” he says, gesturing toward the maze of brick along the Androscoggin River. “Now we’re so diversified, the economy is a lot healthier.”
Dube always was a traveler. He explored Japan, Hong Kong, and other destinations with the Army in the early 1960s. Working in the Army’s finance division, he learned the business of travel, arranging troop transfers through airlines. Back then, there was only one travel outlet in Lewiston, a news and cigar shop that sold airplane tickets on the side.
On July 1, 1963, one day after Dube’s discharge from the Army, he opened Dube Travel Agency, renting space from his father, a prominent Lewiston insurance man.
In the first three months, only one person walked through the door at the upper Main Street location, an advertisement representative for the newspaper. Dube and his father moved downtown, first into rented space at the DeWitt Hotel, then at the building on Lisbon Street.
“That was just the beginning of the jet age, when people really started to travel,” he said. “I survived on organizing student tours for grammar schools, mostly to Boston.”
Senior tours were the next big thing. Older people wanted to travel the world, and Dube and other agents orchestrated and often led the tours. He took groups to Mexico and Florida and then Hawaii became a huge destination, as airfares dropped.
“Some of these people had never been out of Maine,” Dube said. “A lot of them had worked in the mills and shoe shops. It was very rewarding for me, seeing the world start to shrink in front of them.”
Momentum grew in the 1970s and 1980s, as Dube filled plane after plane to Hawaii, Europe and Disneyworld. Then the modern cruise industry emerged, still the fastest-growing segment of the business. Dube Travel expanded to branches in Augusta and South Portland, where Dube’s brother, Phil, became office manager.
Dube joined Carlson Wagonlit Travel as a franchisee in 1995, allowing him to keep his independent status, while expanding the client list and global reach. Annual sales topped $10 million by 2000, and Dube had grown into one of the top agencies in Maine, with six offices. Then September 11th hit, and the entire industry stepped back.
“The only phone calls we got were cancellations,” Dube said. “I really thought that was going to be the end of us.”
Dube consolidated, keeping the headquarters in Lewiston, and branches in Augusta and Scarborough. He trimmed staff to 19 full-time and 6 part-time workers. And many of them have made sacrifices, such as taking unpaid days off. Some work for other companies in the summer, and return when business picks up in the fall. Dube’s son, Chris, works at the Lewiston office and will run the business when Paul retires.
Despite the struggles of the past two years, Dube remains optimistic. He’s spending the summer, when business is slow, gearing up for this fall and winter. He has food and wine tours arranged for California and Italy. He’s seen many cycles within the business, and notices people booking trips earlier, a good sign.
“Our advance bookings for next year are very encouraging. We’ve already got people booked on Thanksgiving of 2004 cruises,” Dube said. “People are always going to want to see the world.”
Comments are no longer available on this story