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A diverse background in cruising both onboard and shoreside, has given Peter Kollar the ability to hit the ground running on revamped training and development programs for the ICCA both in Australia and New Zealand.
Peter tells e-Travel Blackboard of his experience travelling to over 176 countries and why he believes networking is the key when it comes to expanding within the travel industry.
e-Travel Blackboard: It seems you have had quite a few roles in which you have been a trainer?
Peter: Funny enough I actually started out as a primary school teacher, but didn’t last too long. I went back to University (Bachelor of Sports Science), and after a few years in the trade as a personal trainer and managing fitness centres, I began presenting to fitness industry professionals on health and fitness topics and small business development, and then later onboard cruise ships presenting to the public as part of my fitness role onboard. So yes, I’ve been in front of an audience over a period of time.
e-Travel Blackboard: You started your cruising career with Carnival, how was that experience?
Peter: At first when I walked up to the Carnival Fantasy, it blew me away! A lot of self-doubt crept in. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t tough, the adjustment was something I had not experienced before. Cruising to Nassau every Tuesday and Friday was hard to swallow as well, as I thought I would be cruising around the world. But I credit much of the “out of my comfort zone” experience to my development over the years, as I always remind myself in new situations that I have done this before. In saying all that, Carnival was a great opportunity to learn the shipboard side of things, as the volume of people we dealt with was extreme.
e-Travel Blackboard: Some reports say you’ve now been to over 150 countries, when did this start happening?
Peter: It was a relocation to Crystal Cruises as a Sports Director that got me going, starting out with 2 of my 5 World Cruises with them. It was a very special time, but I am not sure of 150. I think the flag count is 126 countries, but they do not include Greenland and other territories. I was once introduced to some serious people out there that do that sort of stuff (part of the 100 club), which lists and ranks you according to visits to different places. The asterisk to that is they break up some territories to count, so going to Japan and Okinawa would be counted as 2, Svalbard and Norway as 2, so I got to 176 countries and territories, but in the end the numbers only means one thing – I’ve been extremely fortunate to travel as extensively as I have.
e-Travel Blackboard: You worked as a Shore Excursion Manager for many years with Crystal. That is a strange change from Fitness and Sports?
Peter: Sure was, but this is where my passion for the industry really evolved. The money for a Sports Director was not great, so to save money but still being able to see the ports, I volunteered as a Tour Escort, which would accompany tours as a representative of the cruise line. It actually worked well, because during port days, I had no activities on the ship to facilitate, so it gave me the time to commit to the shore excursion staff as someone they could always rely on. A few years later when they had a role available in the Shore Excursion department, they contacted me in London saying that I knew all the tours already so I would be an ideal fit.
e-Travel Blackboard: What were you doing in London?
Peter: After my first stint with Crystal, I moved to a land based role (so to speak) with Steiner who controlled many of the salons onboard ships around the world (under Multitrax who were the contracted Fitness Division Company at the time). I flew from ship to ship training crew on sales and service, too many ships to keep track of, but they were across the brands so it was a great experience for what I am doing now.
e-Travel Blackboard: Can you tell us about some of the tour experiences you had as a Shore Excursion Manager?
Peter: Where do I start? It was an amazing experience. John Stoll, Crystal’s Director of Land Programs, had an immense passion for exploring new avenues, and I just rode that wave, exploring regions from the Artic to Antarctica, from deserts to jungles. Crystal always had a good choice of overland tours which I put myself on, so it gave me many opportunities. I’ve watched the launch of the Space Shuttle, journeyed with Rovos Rail across South Africa, ballooned over Cappadocia, danced through Carnivale in Rio, golfed at St. Andrews, flew over the Nazca lines, explored Petra, drove the F1 circuit in Monte Carlo, ridden (and tasted) every animal, and so much more that I honestly want to put into a book on day.
e-Travel Blackboard: After such an amazing experience, why did you leave?
Peter: As great as it was, it also takes a toll on you because you are always on the go. I needed to get back to land, and forge a new career for myself in an industry I was so in love with and had accrued so much experience. But it was a very tough transition. At first I just took 6 months off, but before I knew it, I couldn’t get a job – businesses out there didn’t relate the skill set absorbed while working at sea. Even reading this I am sure your readers think it was all roses, but with all that came organisational skills that deal with variable logistical challenges in all sorts of ports around the world, high- end client demands, and communication skills that spanned over the globe when you had to deal with tour operators of every language and culture. Thankfully, Cruiseabout recognized my potential and I started my land career as a Travel Agent selling cruises!
e-Travel Blackboard: You would have been a great travel agent
Peter: Not at first to be honest, but I got better when I learnt not to just unleash all that information. The transfer of all that experience into a quick sales consultation was a challenge. But my client base grew with repeats and referrals.
e-Travel Blackboard: What made you move to be Flight Centre’s NSW Cruise Product Manager?
Peter: To be honest, I made a very conscious (and transparent to my peers) decision to somehow be involved in our cruise industry here and use that experience to a more senior level; and being a travel agent was just the first step to learn the retail side of the way the travel industry operated here. FCL were very good to me, enabling me to impart some new innovative training modules to their brands, which have been very successful. At the same time, I got to learn how the back end of the industry worked which really gelled all the experiences together (onboard, retail, and operations).
e-Travel Blackboard: You’ve been with the ICCA now since February, is this closer to where you wanted to head?
Peter: Definitely. It’s a more rounded role of my skill-set that is solely cruise industry orientated, so it’s perfect for me. I’ve been given tremendous support by Brett (ICCA GM) and the board members to really create an education environment that is new and relevant, and the feedback from the participating agents has been very humbling.
e-Travel Blackboard: What advice to you have for new people in the industry?
Peter: Network! This was by far the biggest lesson I had in any of my experiences, as all my roles have come about because of recommendations. So put your head down, work hard with what you love, and it will come and find you.
e-Travel Blackboard: Name someone famous you’d like to travel with and where you’d like to take them.
Peter: I would love to take Michio Kaku with me on a trek through the Nepalese mountains.
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