A travel-industry innovator, Robert E. "Bob" MacGregor was one of the first Hawai'i residents to capitalize on the postwar boom in tourism.
During his 50 years in the business, the grinning, polo-playing MacGregor was the face of Hawai'i tourism. But he was also one of several Island tour-industry leaders who were found guilty in federal court of price fixing in the mid-1970s.
MacGregor was a Denver native who spoke Spanish, a skill that drew assignments to Mexico and the Philippines when he began working for Pan American Airways. He was district sales manager in Hawai'i for the airline, but quit to open the travel bureau in 1946 rather than be transferred to the Mainland by Pan American.
MacGregor opened International Travel Service on Beretania Street in 1946. The company started with three employees. Within a decade, it boasted 60 employees and three offices.
MacGregor got into legal trouble in 1975, however. Then president of Trade Wind Tours and International Travel Service Ltd., MacGregor and two other prominent tourism industry executives were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to fix prices, a violation of federal antitrust laws.
The government said the case involved a 10-year conspiracy that affected $150 million to $250 million in sales.
MacGregor pleaded innocent and said the charges were "what a horse leaves behind." The following month, however, he and the other defendants entered "no contest" pleas and a federal judge pronounced them guilty in 1976. He was fined $10,000. A second federal case of price fixing produced another conviction in 1977 and a subsequent fine of $50,000.
When he died in 2002 at 88, MacGregor was remembered for his successful promotions that are industry staples now, including Pearl Harbor cruise tours, air-conditioned bus tours and Polynesian shows.
