Home » News » “I am a true traveller at heart”: Trafalgar’s Gavin Tollman, continued

31 May, 2018

“I am a true traveller at heart”: Trafalgar’s Gavin Tollman, continued

In part two of our interview, Gavin Tollman is scathing of what he calls ‘ice cream tourists’, read part one here.

“This expression came to me a number of years ago from one of the largest hotel operators in Sorrento. The shops of the town lure large numbers of cruise line passengers ashore.

“But, I was told, all the passengers do is buy an ice cream, drop their garbage and leave,” he said.

By contrast, Tollman cited a Trafalgar initiative – the Giant’s Causeway visitor centre – that provides a sustainable and low impact way to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site.

“You can’t bring people to overcrowd destinations and do nothing for those destinations,” Tollman said.

Another element of sustainable travel is not always travelling in peak times. Trafalgar is focused on how they spread travel throughout the year.

“Unfortunately tourists get painted with the same brush as we do. If locals get a benefit from travel they embrace it. But people should never feel guilty about a love of travel and discovery,” Tollman said.

In terms of the business of selling travel, Trafalgar has always believed in the sway of the travel trade, Tollman asserted.

“Today it is no longer about me needing to convince our agent partners that we are best of the breed.

“We have an unequivocal commitment to the trade and travel agents. They are a critical ingredient to our future success. We are driven by being agent first.”

Tollman takes this opportunity to share one of his business mantras – the importance of client retention.

“The guests really are the heartbeat of our brand. One thing we do understand is that it’s 12 times easier to keep an existing guest than to find a new one, and in order to retain people you have to deliver an outstanding experience.

“To our agency partners, our message is that you never get a second chance with first impressions. Someone walking into your store is potentially going to make their most expensive purchase for the year. And it’s the thing they are most looking forward to. This is a huge responsibility.

“People will make a decision in a nanosecond. The email you send, the degree of professionalism you display, how you fulfil somebody’s travel dreams – you need to excel at every step of the process with your clients.

“You simply cannot be an order taker. If you are, you’re adding no value to their experience,” he said.

And Tollman’s zeal for selling travel the right way is still matched by his enthusiasm for experiencing new places.

“I am a true traveller at heart. Every year I love to go to new and different countries. This year the experience I’m looking forward to is going to the far north of Norway in October with my wife – I might even see the Northern Lights.

“We love large family trips – the remarkable thing for us, and I don’t say this lightly, is that our best friends are our family,” Tollman concluded.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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