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Five major awards were given out at the Gala Dinner which closed the 2010 Travel Corporation Conference held in Cape Town, South Africa, in the first week of October. The awards include the inaugural Mike Ness Award, the Arnold Tollman award, and the Stanley Tollman award.
In presenting the awards, Brett Tollman, CEO of The Travel Corporation, explained that the Mike Ness award is "presented to an individual within TTC who exemplifies aggressiveness in finding new sources of business, living ‘never say never’ and who has an outstanding bottom-line focus." This year’s award went to Lucille Sive, President of Lion World Tours. Sive exclaimed that it was "such an honor to be the recipient of this new award named after such a dynamic leader of The Travel Corporation. Mike’s example is an inspiration to us all."
The Arnold Tollman Award is given in recognition of commitment to the development and furthering of an employee who has great potential within the Travel Corporation, assisting this employee to achieve higher goals. This year’s award went to Joe Maloney, VP of Insight Vacations USA. In receiving the award, Maloney said, "It is a tremendous honor and tribute to the Insight team and to the USA team.."
The Stanley Tollman Award is given to a leader who embodies The Travel Corporation’s founder and Chairman’s vision: poise, passion and dedication to the business. Mr. Tollman proudly stated, "The winner of this year’s award is a person who has demonstrated all of these characteristics, year after year, and who is a reflection of everything The Travel Corporation stands for." The 2010 award went to John Boulding, President and CEO of Insight Vacations. In response to receiving the award, Boulding commented, "It was a most unexpected honor and a delight to receive the award. My sincere thanks go to Mr. Tollman for the recognition, and to the Insight and TTC support teams across the business. Their spirit, hard work and dedication – in tough times as well as good – are the fuel that inspires me and the core reason for Insight’s business success. My thanks to them all."
Two Office of the Year Awards were also presented during the course of the conference. Proudly taking home the Insight Vacations’ Office of the Year award was Insight Vacations’ USA office. John Boulding, President and CEO of Insight Vacations, stated, "The USA market achieved its highest sales since Insight’s founding in 1979. Levels reached an unprecedented +26% over 2008, the last most important benchmark year." Boulding noted the incredible effort from the sales, reservations and administrative teams in delivering Insight’s premium program and thanked Insight’s agency partners for their fantastic support. As Insight USA’s President Marc Kazlauskas accepted the award, he enthusiastically remarked, "Our office was thrilled to receive such a prestigious award within our company. We in the USA all work very hard and appreciate the recognition. The agency channel is our only vehicle and we could not have done this without the support, friendship and partnership of our agents. Thank you to all – We plan on winning again in 2011!"
Trafalgar USA also took home Trafalgar Tours’ Office of the Year award. Gavin Tollman, CEO of Trafalgar Tours, said he "benchmarked the success of 2010 against production in 2008 and the USA team performed better than any other Trafalgar offices. In addition they created a number of innovative ideas to assist our agent partners in growing their business. And finally, the sales and reservations teams, ably directed by Paul Wiseman and his executive team, reflected the four core values for which Trafalgar stands: primarily in the great customer service they provide." President Paul Wiseman received the award and stated, "On behalf of the Sales, Reservations, and Operations Teams, I am delighted to receive the Office of the Year Award for Trafalgar USA in recognition of excellent sales performance that not only exceeded 2009, but also 2008. This was quite a feat in these difficult economic circumstances. The Trafalgar team focuses on providing outstanding service, ensuring our customers have wonderful, memorable experiences that always demonstrate value, solidifying Trafalgar’s position as a market leader."
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
