Celebrating Collette’s Centennial

Over the last century, Collette has certainly come a long way from offering jitney rides to escorting travellers on one-of-a-kind trips across all seven continents.

“Many people have asked us how did we get to 100 years? Let me tell you what I know,” says Dan Sullivan Jr., the CEO of Collette. “We have to look at the past and innovate for the future, we have to look at what our goals are for the future, but we can use the past of our successes and our failures and keep evolving, innovating and changing to grow every year. I’m proud to say we’ve been able to do that.”

To mark the special anniversary, more than 400 international industry personnel – including airline, hotel and tourism representatives, a strong Canadian contingency and even competitor Robin Tauck of Tauck Inc., who was on hand to show her support for the family-run business – are gathered in Providence, Rhode Island this week. Along with a gala dinner last night (June 21), two days of panel discussions and presentations are underway for The Future Of Travel 2018 Global Forum.

“Travel is the great educator,” he says. “When people travel, they realize the more things are different, the more they’re the same. When we travel, we meet locals, we enjoy the culture of each destination, we enjoy the people of each destination, and that’s why we travel.”

Stay tuned for lots more in upcoming editions of Canadian Travel Press and Travel Courier.

Pictured (at top) are Collette Canada’s Brett Walker and Ron Lonsdale with Baxter Media’s Wendy McClung.
(Middle) Christian Wolters, TourRadar; Sandra Wesson and Susan Bowman of Transat Distribution Canada; Lonsdale and Christian Leibl-Cote; senior vice president of global business, Collette.