The travelling man
RIGHT off the bat, Gavin Tollman’s affable personality exemplifies why he is the right person to lead Trafalgar.
“One key thing, my name is Gavin. There is definitely no Mr Tollman here,” quipped the South African–born Global CEO when met recently in Kuala Lumpur.
Trafalgar, the cornerstone brand of The Travel Corporation (TTC), is a family–run business spanning four generations of enthusiastic travellers.
Practically born into a family that dominates the guided–tour industry, Tollman (right) got to taste the sweet life of working his passion for travel early on in life.
As a teenager, his earliest jobs included doing transfers from the airport to hotels and handling calls at a call centre.
Even a brief hiatus, where he went into investment banking, did not deter him from going back to the travel world.
“From there – within TTC – I went into the hotel side of the business and in the mid–90s, I was invited to leave the hotels to go and run Trafalgar in the United States, which I jumped on,” Tollman said.
By 2009, Tollman was given the opportunity to helm Trafalgar globally, and he’s indeed a lucky man as he reiterates that working in travel is a privilege that doesn’t feel like a job.
“I want the opportunity to be able to talk about reasons we travel, the things we do, the voyages we discover.
“When people go on their holidays, it’s probably one of the biggest investments they’re going to make, both financially, as well as time.
“And so, it is a huge responsibility to us, and ... I take great pride in making sure we fulfil those travel dreams for them.”
For most, the stereotypical image that comes to mind when thinking about international tours is a less–than–happy guide with a handheld flagpole rushing people around, making a leisure vacation seem like a race.
The Trafalgar experience, however, is a meaningful affair.
Trafalgar focuses on interactions with local communities, with an emphasis on sustainable travel, fostering unforgettable moments that will last longer than posing for a selfie.
Tollman asked: “Generations ago, people looked at tourism and what did they see? It was really check–boxed. You went and you saw the iconic sites.
“Those are still important, but what you want to do today when you travel is [to] get below the surface of the destination, to understand the very roots of what makes it.”
A distinctive feature that Trafalgar has to offer is the Be My Guest experience. It features a total immersion of culture, allowing guests to break bread in the homes of hospitable hosts, as well as adding to the cause of sustainability in local communities.
“When we first launched [it] in 2010, we had two sisters – the Esposito sisters – who had a home looking over the bay of Naples, and Mama Esposito made the most delicious spaghetti pomodoro in the world,” Tollman reminisced.
“When you walked into their home, you walked through a lemon grove, from which she made the greatest limoncello.”
Tollman’s recollections of the food proved how much cuisine is often a uniting factor for people visiting a new place or culture.
As Tollman explained: “Recently, I got to try the mooncake here. If anyone had ever told me you can take an egg yolk and put it inside the ‘cake’, and it would be delicious, I would have told them that they were completely crazy.
“The biggest thing for me now is to take some of these [mooncakes] home for my wife to try, because it’s so interesting.”
Tollman added that the greatest challenge is keeping an open mind when it comes to food. Some cuisines, however, might be a little too extreme for people.
“In South Africa, there’s a worm called the mopane that is only [available] a few times a year, and I remember when my wife first saw it – we were out in the bush of Kruger Park – and somebody said to her it was a delicacy you could only get there.”
She ended up not trying it, but Tollman did give the creepy crawlies a taste. “I wouldn’t call them a delicacy though,” he said, laughing.
For someone who constantly jet sets around the world for business, travelling for leisure can be tricky, since the company is always at the back of his mind.
Tollman’s wife even coined a term to describe his busy mind: “HDD (Holiday Deficit Disorder)”.
His only place of solace, featured prominently on his business card, is the Alps.
He said: “When I disappear up into the mountains, it’s not only ... a holiday, but where some of my greatest, clearest thinking occurs.
“When I start getting up to two, three–and–a–half thousand metres, I get clarity there, and that’s why I love to travel into the Alps.”
For someone who thoroughly enjoys his work, and who gets paid for it, Tollman is indeed a man living his dream in paradise.
Five minutes with gavin Tollman
Being a busy man who’s always on the go and travelling for his job, Tollman shares some of his personal takes on the following:
On embracing technology
Tollman kept Trafalgar relevant by incorporating technology from British-based Feefo, a global feedback engine, so that only genuine guests who have experienced a taste of Trafalgar’s exclusive tours can post an honest review on its website.
On going green
Trafalgar saves thousands of trees by going paperless in their business.
On his personal hobbies
Tollman is an avid reader, and is currently reading Michael Bloomberg’s Climate of Hope. He also has a surprising fondness for cookbooks and food. He also loves to cook at home for freinds.
On his favourite airport
Since Tollman resides in Geneva, Switzerland, he credits the country’s Zurich Airport as his favourite transit point in the world.