Erna Low

In 2019, Erna Low Ltd was acquired by University snowsports specialist Nuco Travel. “Just as Erna favoured me to take over her life’s work, I am now delighted to pass on the mantle to the next generation, and who better than an innovative and thriving ski company such as Nuco Travel, which I have known since its inception and where I am a minority shareholder. With Erna Low managing director Jane Bolton ensuring our values remain a priority, I know the company will continue to blossom as part of the Nuco family.” explains Joanna Yellowlees-Boun who retired as chief executive of Erna Low, after 37 years at the helm.

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.

Low died at the age of 92 on 12 February 2002 at her home in London.

In May 2000, the company was entered into the British Travel Industry's 'Hall of Fame'.

Low has been cited as a pioneer in the development of the package holiday and was the founder of Erna Low Travel Services Ltd. She worked in the holiday industry for over sixty years. She retired in 1995.

Low handed control of the company to her successor and loyal employee, Joanna Yellowlees-Bound, in 1995.

Low continued to work in the 1990s and gained membership of the Chartered Institute of Marketing for her feasibility study on Strathpeffer. She was also 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.

Low reinvented her company in 1981 under the name Erna Low Consultants Ltd. In this role, Low concentrated on developing the health spa market throughout Europe. She 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.

Low's business continued to grow and in 1972, with a staff of sixty and a turnover of £1.5 million, she opted to sell. She bought her name back in 1975 with the business struggling, but sold again in 1979 to become a consultant to the travel industry.

An all-inclusive fortnight in a first-class hotel with Erna Low cost 38 guineas and after the introduction of charter flights in 1954, she even reduced costs by advising her clients to travel in ski clothes to save on excess baggage expenses.

The company 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. The company, still based in the mews house in South Kensington from where Miss Low lived and worked, has since branched out into real estate and has a successful property company, Erna Low Property, with an office in Arc 1950, in the French Alps.

Low was very adept at finding new resorts for her clients in both the summer and winter market. Erna Low's 1948 brochure said: “Winter sports are on the map again” and by 1950, it included 24 continental trips. Low placed emphasis on the personal touch and until the mid-1950s, she accompanied each group on their trip.

In 1947, Low set up Erna Low Travel Service Ltd out of Reece Mews, South Kensington.

She then developed the 'house-party' concept. Low recognised that families were separated by war service and offered the opportunity for people to meet one another at Christmas. She leased boarding schools and invited paying guests to stay. This venture became a company in 1946 and was later known as Enjoy Britain Ltd.

Low set up a permanent home in Britain and became a citizen in 1940, changing her name from Lӧwe to Low in the process.

Low's business career in the travel industry began in 1932 when she placed an advertisement in the Morning Post. It read:

She 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. During her studies, Low traced the grandchildren of de Tabley and was invited to stay at the family home in Knutsford, Cheshire.

Erna Low (28 July 1909 – 12 February 2002) was an Austrian Jewish businesswoman who settled in England and is best known for her work in the ski travel industry.

Low was born in Vienna in 1909 as the only daughter of Eduard Carl Lӧwe and his wife Emma. She remained in the city throughout her childhood and education.