Az innovatív turisztikai csillag, Tollman 91 évesen veszíti el a harcot a rákkal

“One of the most amazing figures in travel and tourism has left us. His name is Stanley Tollman. I have known him and his lovely wife Bea since I met them for the first time in 1972 in the Tollman Towers, a brand-new hotel they had just build in Johannesburg in 1970. Our travel paths have been closely linked over the years. Stan and his lovely family were always on the cutting edge in the travel industry and continually creating new products run with consummate style. They made so many people so very happy.”

In the years that followed, the company’s hotel and travel portfolio evolved and expanded to include the multi-award-winning Red Carnation Hotels (named after the red carnation Tollman wore in his lapel) and other sector leading brands including Insight Vacations, Contiki Holidays and Uniworld Boutique River Cruises.

As race-based tensions emerged in South Africa, Tollman leaned on his success to challenge apartheid policies. He was one of the first hoteliers to invite black guests and performers into his luxury hotels and he championed a program of training for promising young black people in the hospitality business, unlocking employment opportunities until then reserved for whites. Sadly, unable to affect or tolerate apartheid, Tollman divested his South African assets in 1976 and moved with his wife and four children to London where they owned the Montcalm Hotel in Marble Arch.

But Africa never left Tollman. Although forced to seek his fortunes away from his homeland, once apartheid was abolished, Tollman returned to the land of his birth in 1994.  Through reinvestment, conservation and celebrating the art and culture of South Africans, he played a direct role in its recovery and the creation of future possibility for South Africans to rebuild their lives through the tourism industry. Tollman coordinated the first international tours of foreign artists to the new South Africa, an experience that deeply impacted his understanding of the relationship between guests and local peoples and created a groundswell of local pride around their newly liberated country.

As a result, all TTC brands strive to offer opportunities for guests to meet and engage with locals in authentic ways, creating understanding and appreciation of one another and our place in the shared world. In 2003 he established the Tollman Award for the Visual Arts, celebrating the development of the arts in South Africa. Since its inception, the award has had significantly advanced the achievement and body of work of its recipients that have included Zanele Muholi, Portia Zvavahera, Mawande Ka Zenzile and Nicholas Hlobo, whose work has been exhibited in prestigious locations such as the Tate Modern and the Venice Biennale.

Through his brands, Tollman has introduced tens of thousands of visitors to Africa and in 2020, after completing a three-year reimagination despite global pandemic challenges to its creation, he unveiled his piéce de rèsistance, Xigera Safari Lodge, a love letter to Africa in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. The safari lodge immediately received global praise for its sustainability credentials including investment in solar farm and achievement of carbon negative footprint and was named by Robb Report as one of The 50 Best New Luxury Hotels to Visit in 2021.

A szerzőről

Linda S. Hohnholz avatarja

Linda S. Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz a szerkesztője volt eTurboNews sok éven. Ő felel az összes prémium tartalomért és sajtóközleményekért.

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