Columnists
Arnie Weissmann is editor in chief of Travel Weekly, the industry’s award-winning source of news, research, analysis and opinion, and is editorial director of Northstar Travel Media’s Travel Group, which includes Travel Weekly China and Travel Weekly Asia.
Weissmann, who also founded Weissmann Reports (now part of Travel 42), is also a popular speaker at industry conferences, is widely quoted in consumer media and is a regular contributor to the PBS television show “The Travel Detective.”
Mark Pestronk is engaged in the private practice of law with the Law Offices of Mark Pestronk, P.C., The Travel Law Office, in Washington, DC. He has 40 years’ experience in representing travel agencies and other travel companies in industry-related matters and is one of the few lawyers nationwide whose practice is solely devoted to travel industry concerns.
For 24 years, he has been the "Legal Briefs" columnist for Travel Weekly. He also is a popular speaker at industry-related meetings, seminars, and conferences, including Travel Weekly's events.
Pestronk has been chairman of the North American Section of the International Federation of Travel and Tourism Advocates. He holds the highest rating (AV) from the Martindale-Hubbell lawyers rating service and an "excellent" rating from the Avvo lawyers rating service. A native of New York City, Pestronk holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University in international relations and a law degree from Georgetown University. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Virginia. He is also one of the top all-time money winners on the TV game show “Jeopardy”.
Richard Turen owns Churchill & Turen, a luxury vacation-planning firm based in Naples, Fla., and is an owner and editor of the Churchill & Turen Media Group. He has been named the top-producing adviser in the Virtuoso Network and a Travel Superstar by Conde Nast Traveler.
As Travel Weekly's senior editor for aviation, Robert Silk provides coverage and analysis of route networks, service offerings and distribution as well as airline industry trends and political/policy debates. He writes the Wheels Up opinion column about commercial aviation.
Silk also handles Travel Weekly's coverage of the golf and ski industries.
Prior to joining Travel Weekly in 2015, he spent a decade covering tourism, business, the environment, development and general news for the Florida Keys' daily newspaper, the Key West Citizen, as well as for an affiliated weekly, the Florida Keys Free Press. He also edited the Travel Weekly Florida eNewsletter in 2015 and 2016.
Silk is the co-writer and star of the Azzurri Productions documentary film "Silk Finds What He's Looking For," which was released in June 2021 and chronicles the meditative sport of competitive desert sitting. He is also the author of "An Ecotourist's Guide to the Everglades and the Florida Keys," which was published in 2016 by University Press of Florida.
Jamie Biesiada covers retail travel sellers, reporting news about travel advisors and agencies, consortia, host agencies and OTAs. She also is co-host of the Trade Secrets podcast. In addition, she covers GDSs and other technologies driving the retail distribution channel, as well as theme parks. She was named the American Society of Travel Advisors' 2019 ASTA Travel Journalist of the Year. Biesiada's roots are in community journalism. Before Travel Weekly, she was most recently the editor of Star News Group based in Manasquan, N.J., covering communities up and down the New Jersey shore. She was named to Editor & Publisher's Top 25 Under 35 list in 2013, which honors the most promising young journalists.
Christina Jelski is senior editor for hotels, covering the global hospitality industry, including alternative lodging and Airbnb, for Travel Weekly. She is also host of The Last Resort podcast.
Prior to joining Travel Weekly, Jelski was a senior editor with M. Shanken Communications, where she reported and wrote for Impact and Shanken News Daily, two trade publications covering the wine, spirits and beer industries. Her writing has also appeared in M. Shanken sister publications Market Watch and Wine Spectator.
Jelski holds a bachelor's degree in English from Indiana University. She lives in New York City.
Yeoh Siew Hoon, editorial director of Northstar Travel Media Asia, is the founder and editor of Web in Travel, a content and community platform for online travel professionals in the Asia-Pacific region.