Brett Tollman

In 1961, Brett G. Tollman was born in South Africa, son to a three-generation hotelier family. Since the travel and tourism industry was an integral part of his life from birth, his direction and ambition to become a part of that industry was obvious. After graduating from high school, Brett Tollman followed his heart and went to study and graduate with a B.Sc. in Hotel Management at Cornell University. After his graduation, he worked for several known travel-related companies in executive-management positions.

1997 was a good year for Brett Tollman – this was the year he joined The Travel Corporation (TTC), his home-away-from-home ever since. TTC is a highly-exclusive group or about 20 tourism-related businesses (boutique hotels, escorted tours, independent holidays, river cruises, etc.), which specializes in serving a specific niche market of consumers. Brett Tollman filled various positions in TTC throughout the years, until 2010 when he was appointed CEO and President of the company.

Brett Tollman is an avid and dedicated supporter of environmental issues, and also gladly shares some of his professional experiences information with designated groups, in order to help others reach their goals and follow his footsteps – on their own path. One such group is the Young President's Organization (YPO), whose members share some of their experiences and ideas with presidents of other companies globally. This non-profit organization aims to help its participants' development through education, professional guidance and learning opportunities.

But there is more than that to sum up the whole of Brett Tollman's activities – he is Vice Chairman of the membership committee at the World Travel and Tourism Council, or WTTC, an international forum of specialists in the tourism field, that faces and addresses ongoing challenges in the travel sector. WTTC tries to help solve these problems and face the challenges by arranging international activities and conducting economic researches.

A businessman who believes in “giving back”, Brett Tollman is proactive in helping those in need. Not long after the violent earthquake in New Zealand, The Travel Corporation donated $50,000 under Brett Tollman’s leadership. The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal is an emergency relief fund sponsored by the government of New Zealand and aimed at providing the much needed funding to rehabilitate New Zealand’s largest city. On February 22nd, the 6.3 magnitude earthquake led to 166 deaths, approximately 70,000 displaced residents and tens of billions of dollars in rebuilding costs. Local residents and businesses were hit hard by the damages caused by the earthquake with at least 12,000 residents still going without electricity a month after the quake. At least three of The Travel Corporation’s travel brands were affected by the natural disaster including: AAT Kings, Contiki Holidays and Trafalgar Tours. Of the donation, Tollman said, “Our New Zealand companies all have very strong links to the city and the surrounding districts, with long-standing relationships with the many agencies down there who have supported us so well over the years…”.

Not only does Brett Tollman support the "giving back" policy, but he also tries to instill it and its values to his team: the company contributes to many local and global charities, and the staff are given "volunteer time" – two paid days a year to help and do good in local charities.

One of Brett Tollman's greatest interests is preserving ecologically vulnerable tourism sites, all around the globe. On his way to achieve his goal, Brett Tollman is the director and one of the founders of TTC's Conservation Foundation – a non-profit organization that is funded by several TTC brands. The Conservation Foundation supports various projects, worldwide, which aim to restore and protect potentially ecologically-vulnerable tourist-relates sites and communities. The TTC Conservation Foundation has an impressive record in supporting such projects in Australia, Brazil, , the USA and others. Its current projects involve the Nile area in Egypt, preserving some of Europe's battlefields and many more. He is known to be a fan of history, and here he gets the chance of both preserving the history, and make "future history" by preserving the wildlife and ecologically-fragile sites in the present.

Brett Tollman and The Travel Corporation’s involvement in Chinese Travel is escalating with China becoming an evident manifestation of personal status, reaffirming worth and sophistication. Aspiring Asian nations are now able to show the world that they too have become part of the global community. Since 2008 the luxury division in China has been enjoying extraordinary large growth and a deep aspiration exists for the Chinese nation to display to the world that they ‘are here’. Asian travel is no longer coach tours of travellers led by guides with flags and these travellers are seeking individual personalized holidays that meet their specific needs and expectations with luxury being a top priority.