MONACO -- Arnold
Tollman, former president of Trafalgar Tours USA, died here Aug. 19
at the age of 72 after a long illness.
Originally from
Johannesburg, South Africa, Tollman was trained as a dentist but
went into the hotel business instead. When he took over the
operation of the American division of Trafalgar in 1977, it was a
small coach operator that moved 2,000 passengers a year.
He oversaw a
transformation that included establishing a contract with American
Airlines to operate tours under the airlines FlyAAway Vacations
brand, meanwhile introducing preferred supplier agreements with
major retail entities such as AAA. He also introduced innovations
that fundamentally changed the nature of the motorcoach operation,
including air-land packages, city-stay packages and shortened
itineraries.
In the late 1990s,
he was forced to retire because of ill health, but by the time he
passed the mantle of leadership to his son Gavin, the company had
grown to a 150,000 passenger-a-year operation.
Tollman is survived
by his wife Sandi, his son Gavin, his daughters Taryn Tollman and
Robyn Smith and five grandchildren.
To contact
the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to David Cogswell
at [email protected].