The Travel Corporation
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Travel and Leisure |
Key people |
Stanley S Tollman, Founder & Chairman |
| Products | tour operations, hotels, river cruise ships |
Number of employees | 10,000 |
| Website | www.thetravelcorporation.com www.treadright.org |
The Travel Corporation ("TTC"), sometimes known as TravCorp, is a Travel and Leisure Group operating in over 60 countries with 35 offices around the world and more than 10,000 staff, serving over 1.5 million customers annually. As a Group it comprises 24 successful travel brands. The brands are independently managed and comprise tour operations, hotels and river cruise ships. Some of these established businesses have been in operation for over 40 years.[1]
The Group has operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, Germany, China, Singapore, Guernsey, Switzerland, Greece, France, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand. The Group’s brands include Trafalgar Tours, Insight Vacations, Contiki Tours, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection, Red Carnation Hotels, AAT Kings, Creative Holidays, Brendan Vacations, New Horizons, Grand European Travel, African Travel, Lion World, Busabout, Aussie Adventure, Haggis, Shamrocker Adventures, Inspiring Journeys and Evan Evans Tours.
The Company also established some years ago a non-profit affiliate, the TreadRight Foundation, to oversee various projects initiated around the world to support sustainable tourism, help foster the preservation of popular tourist sites and areas to assist in ensuring they are around for people to enjoy for generations to come.[2]
Touring – Escorted Touring
The Travel Corporation's motor-coach escorted touring divisions include AAT Kings (with its sub-brands Aussie Adventure and Inspiring Journeys), Brendan Vacations, Busabout, Contiki Holidays, Evan Evans Tours, Grand European Tours, HAGGiS Adventures, Insight Vacations, Shamrocker Adventures, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection and Trafalgar Tours.
Touring – Independent Touring
Unlike escorted touring, independent touring is characterized by a more independent travel experience. The tourist is provided travel information and touring packages, however independent tours allow tourists to plan their own itinerary and tour a destination independent of a group or tour escort. Independent touring packages offered by The Travel Corporation include Brendan Vacations (based in the US); New Horizons (based in Western Australia); Creative Holidays (based in Australia); African Travel, Inc. and Lion World Tours. Creative Holidays is Australia’s largest independent travel company.
Touring – Youth Travel
The Travel Corporation builds tourism packages for different demographics; one such group is the 18–35 age-bracket. Travel Corporation tour packages offered to this age group are characterized by fast-paced travel, budgeted tours and what is known as ‘hop-on/hop-off’ bus tours. Youth Travel brands owned and managed by The Travel Corporation include: Contiki Holidays, HAGGiS Adventures, Shamrocker Adventures and Busabout.
Hotels
Red Carnation Hotels is an award-winning group of luxury boutique hotels located in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, South Africa, Guernsey and Switzerland. Recent awards include: Best Employer, Hotelier of the Year, Number 1 Hotel in the World for Service, Hotel of the Year and Best Hotel in Africa. In recent years they have been favoured by Condé Nast in their annual awards ceremonies, with the Egerton House Hotel receiving the title of London's Most Excellent Hotel in 2009, and the 41 Hotel receiving the same award in the 2011 edition of the awards.[3]
In August 2015 Ashford Castle, Cong, Ireland was voted world's best hotel by Virtuoso Travel Week and third best world hotel in July 2015 by Travel + Leisure magazine, US.[4]
In January 2011, five Red Carnation hotels (The Milestone, Egerton House Hotel, Hotel 41, Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve, Twelve Apostles Hotel) featured in Condé Nast Traveller's Gold List of 'best places in the world to stay.'[5]
Transportation
In addition to tour packages, The Travel Corporation owns and operates transportation services which operate locally as well as internationally. The transportation brands include: AAT Kings and Atlas Reizen (based in The Netherlands). AAT Kings has received numerous awards from the Australian Travel Industry for Best Domestic Tour Operator. It was the first national touring company to include cultural interaction with local Aboriginal people. Both companies operate 155 vehicles in total.
Cruising
The Travel Corporation also offers river cruising packages through Uniworld, a US-based boutique river tour company. Similar to ocean liner cruises, river cruises offer food and accommodations on large riverboats that visit tourist destinations. Uniworld operates river cruises across Europe, Asia and the Middle East on a number of rivers including the Rhine, Main, Danube, and the Seine River. Uniworld has received accolades from Condé Nast Traveler and Travel+Leisure publications for its high-quality services.
Investments
In South Africa, the Group is the largest shareholder of Cullinan Holdings Ltd, one of South Africa's oldest public companies, and which owns household travel brands such as Thompsons Africa, Thompsons Holidays, Thompsons Touring & Safari, Hylton Ross Tours, Planet Africa, Gateway Tours, Pentravel as well as Marine businesses Manex and Central Boating. The Travel Corporation is also a significant shareholder in Wilderness Safaris, a publicly listed Group on the Botswana exchange and which is Africa’s leading Safari and Conservation Group.
Social responsibility
The TreadRight Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation established by The Travel Corporation to encourage sustainable tourism within their own family of brands. To date, TreadRight has donated more than US$1.5 million to sustainable tourism projects worldwide and encourages industry best practice by annually supporting the World Travel & Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow awards. TreadRight reflects the commitment The Travel Corporation has made to adopting responsible tourism practices.
Tollman family
The Travel Corporation, which has been trading for over fifty years, was founded by the current Chairman, Stanley Tollman. The Company is wholly owned by members of the Tollman family, four generations of which are actively involved with the business.
References
- ↑ "Who We Are | The Travel Corporation". The Travel Corporation. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
- ↑ "Foundation Overview | TreadRight Foundation". TreadRight Foundation. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
- ↑ http://www.johansens.com/news/2011-annual-awards-for-excellence-winners
- ↑ Irish Independent August 12 2015
- ↑ http://www.redcarnationhotels.com/press-room/details/five-red-carnation-hotels-voted-the-best-places-to-stay-in-the-world-in-the-cond-nast-travelers-gold-list-2011
http://intercreditreport.com/company/red-carnation-limited-01706965