US travel firm behind Brendan Vacations visiting Kildare for business talks

Gavin Tollman, CEO of Trafalgar, one of world largest travel companies, visited Co Kildare this week to attract more business here.

Trafalgar and Brendan Vacations are one of the largest US producers of American visitors to Ireland, specialising in guided, escorted, private chauffeur, locally hosted rail travel and self-drive vacations acriss Ireland.

Tollman, along with his senior marketing team and sales managers from throughout the US, attended a dinner in the K-Club to hear about Fáilte Ireland’s tourism brands, the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Ancient East and Dublin to coincide with their annual sales meeting in the Straffan resort.

The Tollman Family own the Travel Corporation, including 30 travel brands such as Red Carnation Hotels, and are in Ireland with Trafalgar president Melissa DaSilva and managing director (Ireland) Catherine Reilly.

The briefing dinner was provided as part of Fáilte Ireland's ongoing relationship with Brendan Vacations, which supports the growth of new products and experiences for US visitors to Ireland.

Paul Keeley, director of commercial development at Fáilte Ireland, asserted, “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Trafalgar and Brendan Vacations to develop new seasonal and regional programming in Ireland.

"Their invaluable work in selling Ireland has contributed to North America performing ahead of the pack in 2017, welcoming more than 2.1 million visitors, up over 16% on 2016.”