Erna Low worked in the holiday industry for over sixty years.
22 Facts About Erna Low
1.
2.
Erna Low remained in the city throughout her childhood and education.
3.
Erna Low became the Austrian javelin champion before moving to England in 1931, with ten borrowed pounds in her pocket, to research a PhD thesis on Lord de Tabley, a Victorian poet and botanist.
4.
The outbreak of World War II made ski trips to Austria impossible, so Low planned alternative visits to Switzerland.
5.
Erna Low recognised that families were separated by war service and offered the opportunity for people to meet one another at Christmas.
6.
Erna Low leased boarding schools and invited paying guests to stay.
7.
Erna Low worked with schools to run school courses and utilised the post-war demand for foreign travel to develop holidays for which the majority was paid before departure.
8.
Erna Low was very adept at finding new resorts for her clients in both the summer and winter market.
9.
Erna Low placed emphasis on the personal touch and until the mid-1950s, she accompanied each group on their trip.
10.
Erna Low bought her name back in 1975 with the business struggling, but sold again in 1979 to become a consultant to the travel industry.
11.
Erna Low became the official representative in the UK of resorts at La Plagne, Les Arcs and Flaine, while she was decorated for her services to tourism by France, Italy and Austria.
12.
Erna Low continued to work in the 1990s and gained membership of the Chartered Institute of Marketing for her feasibility study on Strathpeffer.
13.
Erna Low was the vice-president of both the Kensington Chamber of Commerce and Women of the Year Association, and won a 'Women Mean Business' award at the age of 83.
14.
Erna Low handed control of the company to her successor and loyal employee, Joanna Yellowlees-Bound, in 1995.
15.
Erna Low was renowned for her formidable style, and she was never known to avoid confrontation.
16.
Erna Low was a consummate networker and taught royalty, actors and politicians to ski.
17.
Erna Low was the godmother to a number of children, including the actress Emily Lloyd, following a friendship with her grandmother, Uli Lloyd-Pack who worked for Low for over 30 years, and Uli Lloyd-Pack's son, Roger Lloyd-Pack.
18.
Erna Low never married and chose to live alone in South Kensington with her dog.
19.
Erna Low died at the age of 92 on 12 February 2002 at her home in London.
20.
Erna Low continues to operate in the ski industry with Low's principles forming an integral part of Erna Low's identity under the direction of Joanna Yellowlees-Bound.
21.
Erna Low Ltd marked the 80th-year anniversary of Low's Morning Post advertisement in 2012 and Mark Frary's biography, Aiming High, was launched at the Coronet Cinema in London on 11 October 2012.
22.
In 2019, Erna Low Ltd was acquired by wintersports specialist NUCO Travel.