The Aberdeen Press & Journal will be honoured by the West’s oil capital – Houston – next month.

The paper, along with Aberdeen tourist agency Munro’s, is having a day named after it in recognition of the relationship developed over recent decades with the American city.

The duo have orchestrated an annual trip to the Offshore Technology Conference in the USA for the past 30 years. More than 400 delegates fly the Atlantic every spring for the Houston oil and gas show.

Houston City Council is now making the first day of this year’s Conference, on Monday, May 5, the Munro’s Tourist Agency/Press and Journal day.

A proclamation is to be presented by Coun Gordon Quan to P&J editor Derek Tucker and Munro’s managing partner Jack Burnett at a reception on Sunday, May 4.

Derek said: “We are very honoured to be recognised in this way. The continuing popularity of the OTC trip shows how important links with Houston are to the UK oil and gas industry, and also the economy of this country.”

The proclamation document reads: Since 1973, Munro’s Tourist Agency and the Press and Journal, the North of Scotland’s leading newspaper, have been responsible for the travel arrangements of more than 5,500 UK and international delegates attending Offshore Technology Conferences in Houston.
These business missions have encouraged the exchange of ideas, generated significant business opportunities and created lasting friendships.
In recognition of their role in developing valued relationships with Houston, and the 100th anniversary this year of Munro’s, Scotland’s oldest travel agency, I hereby proclaim May 5, 2003, as Munro’s Tourist Agency/Press and Journal day in Houston.

Bill Gordon, business development consultant for the Press and Journal, who has helped organise the annual business mission to OTC for two decades, said he was proud that the Munro’s/Press and Journal partnership had grown over the years to become responsible for the largest international group of exhibitors and visitors attending the event.

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