Forty years ago, Aberdeen was a very different place to what it is now, with fishing, timber, textiles, livestock, granite and tourism being among dominant industries in the area.
The North Sea oil industry was in its infancy, and few could have predicted then that the Granite City would become the oil capital of Europe, with many local entrepreneurs becoming millionaires.
Munro’s Travel Group senior partner Jack Burnett had no idea that a meeting at the offices of Aberdeen Journals in February 1973 would lead to a 40-year-long association with Houston, Texas.
Mr Burnett said: “My first involvement with the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) was down to a conversation with Derek Robb, who at that time worked at the Aberdeen Journals as a sales representative.
“Knowing that Munro’s was already involved in the energy business with US firms, he asked if I had heard of the OTC show in Houston which at that time was and still is the largest energy conference in the world. I felt we should find out more. There was no better way than trying to organise a group going to the next OTC conference.”
The outcome was that a group of 70 left, in late April, 1973, flying with British Airways from Aberdeen to Prestwick, then to New York, travelling on Delta Airlines to Houston and staying at the Sheraton Lincoln Hotel in downtown Houston.
The journey time was about 18 hours, and Mr Burnett recalled that the delegates were exhausted by the time they arrived to be met by a pipe band. Mr Burnett said of the trip: “It was a long and tedious journey, but it was exciting too. We were among the first from the UK to visit OTC.
“The original reason for our trip was to introduce companies in the north-east and north to opportunities in the oil industry by visiting Houston and OTC.
“The annual trip to the oil show has proven a great success over the decades.”
Since the first journey, numbers have swollen to 300-plus every year while OTC delegates from Aberdeen now have a more straightforward journey of flying with BA to Heathrow, then on to Houston.
In addition to numerous oil service companies, the Scottish visitors include a variety of support firms, such as banks, solicitors and accountants.
The headquarters hotel for British visitors since the early 1980s has been the Hilton Houston Post Oak.
Many familiar faces return time and again on the trip to OTC, which this year runs from May 6-9.
Mr Burnett said: “There are a great number of repeat clients, but I am the only person on the trip who has been every year, though there are others – such as Jim Milne of Balmoral Group and Mark Patterson of Nautronix – who have been regulars over the decades.”
Despite now being 74, Mr Burnett has no plans to miss OTC any time soon.
“I have a lot of friends there and, as long as I am fit and able, I plan to be there a few years yet,” he added.
Mr Burnett’s achievement of being at OTC for 40 years in a row will be marked at a delegates dinner in Houston on Saturday, May 4.
Nearly 90,000 people from all corners of the planet attended last year’s show; a 30-year high and 14% ahead of the 2011 tally. A decade ago, Tony Blair, then UK prime minister, hailed the P&J and Munro’s for regularly making sure there was a large British delegation at OTC.
The message from Mr Blair came as Houston was honouring the newspaper and the travel firm. The pair of firms had the opening day of the show named after them by the council in the global oil capital in recognition of close relationships they had developed over the decades with the US city.
Mr Burnett’s son, Murray, now managing partner of Munro’s, has become an OTC regular himself.
Murray said: “This will be the 14th year of my attendance at OTC and what I have witnessed over the years is the great camaraderie and successful networking among the Munro’s/P&J delegates.
“Of our 300-plus people for this year’s trip, around 30% of our delegates are attending OTC for the first time. I am staggered each year by the sheer size of the show. Our involvement in OTC has played a key role in the development and success of our core business; business travel.
“It is wonderful that Munro’s and the P&J have partnered for 40 years together. It is a great partnership which we hope will continue for many years.”