After her recent promotion to Head of Sales – UK, Europe and Ireland, Polly Poulton is vowing to make TTC Tour Brands a ‘household name’ in the UK.
Polly has been at the operator since January 2024, when she arrived as National Account Manager UK and Europe from G Touring.
Born and raised in the sleepy Hampshire village of Horton Heath, Polly set her sights on the travel industry, studying Leisure Management at Southampton Solent University, after her professional swimming career was aborted… because of her height.
Here she reveals more about her early starts in the pool, her learnings from G Touring and Carnival UK, the agent she admires, and why she’s not planning a major overhaul at TTC.
I was very sporty as child. At the age of nine, I would train in swimming at 5am in the morning, multiple times a week. I blame my height for not going further: I’m quite short and you’ve got be a certain height to really make it as a swimmer.
My love of travel was sparked after a family holiday to Egypt. I actually qualified there as a scuba diver when I was 15. I remember it just blew my mind how crystal clear and blue the water was. We also used to camp loads on the south coast of England and I loved it. Camping for me is still very nostalgic.
My mum found my first job in travel at Cunard. The summer after I graduated university, my mum gave me a kick up the butt and told me I needed to get a job by the time she came back from visiting family in Australia. She cut out a newspaper advert for a Reservations Consultant at Cunard and I got the job. It was one of the hardest job interviews I’ve ever done: it was a full day assessment centre, but it put me in good stead for my career.
My time at Carnival UK and G Touring was invaluable. Working in cruise and touring has given me a wide breadth of the industry, as well as an understanding of its differences and opportunities. To my new role at TTC, I’m bringing all the relationships I’ve made. The connections I’ve made are lifelong; I had so much love about my promotion from ex-colleagues and people I’ve not spoken to for years. I always say you should never burn a bridge.
There won’t be loads of changes at TTC now I’m Head of Sales – UK, Europe and Ireland. My biggest focus is on growth; one that’s sustainable and genuinely works for our trade partners. We have two amazingly strong brands – Trafalgar and Contiki – that appeal to very different travellers. So there’s a huge opportunity to make sure we’re giving agents the right proposition, right training and right reasons to sell both. We’re going to be listening to what they need and make them easier to sell.
We launched river cruising itineraries through Trafalgar this year for the first time and demand has been really strong. We were thrilled with the launch and, as a result, new ships are coming. We appreciate it’s been a tough summer with low water levels, but customers have been booking for next year. They haven’t been put off, which I’m shocked about. Even my parents are looking at river cruises for next year.
There is room for us on the rivers. I went to the CLIA River Cruise Forum last year and the consensus was there is space for us. I don’t think companies like us would make a business decision to grow in that area if there wasn’t that opportunity – and there certainly is.
The UK is TTC’s smallest market but I’ve got big plans. There’s a lot of investment, as well as investment to grow our agent partners. We’re currently working with lots of consortia and agents to grow their business with TTC. For us it’s about education, as even when I joined TTC, not many UK agents knew about it. We’re not a household name in the UK yet, like we are in North America, Australia and Asia, but that’s my aim. We’re serious about growing business. I want to win awards!
TTC Specialist and Adventure Division CEO Alastair Campbell inspired my career. When I was at G Touring he was Managing Director, and I reported directly into him post-pandemic. He gave me the courage to believe in myself and to go after the opportunities out there.
I was also mentored by AAT Kings Managing Director Les Cox through TTC’s annual mentorship programme. He compared leadership to netball, as I’m a netball umpire. For both, you need to be empathetic and thick-skinned, with the emotion taken out of it. It’s given me the tools to recognise where I thrive and how I can grow. This year, I’m mentoring someone, and it’s been really rewarding. The best thing about it was seeing them acknowledge and recognise that they can do it.
I’m always in awe of agents who’ve built their businesses from scratch. Hannah Porter of Marlborough-based Travel By Hannah is incredibly aspirational. She’s still young and grown her agency impressively. I would also love to pick G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip’s brains for the same reason. I feel it’s important to keep learning, ask questions and be inquisitive. Every day should be a school day.
Canada was the most memorable fam trip I’ve been on. We saw a mummy bear hanging in the tree with her three babies, teaching them how to climb. It was such a varied trip: we also went rafting and had the full Canadian ice hockey experience. We got to put on all the gear, skate on the ice and have a go hitting the puck. The diversity of that trip just made me realise how incredible touring is.
I always take my Kindle when I’m travelling. I love murder mysteries, especially Frieda McFadden’s books. I also listen to true crime podcasts. At the moment, I’m listening to Morbid: A True Crime podcast, which is co-hosted by a pathology technician and she goes into the ins and outs of how a victim died. I find them fascinating – it’s my brain detox from work. In another life, I would’ve been a detective.
My New Year’s resolution was to read a book a month. I’ve not only stuck to it, but I’ve read more than that. Now I love it, and I never used to be into reading. I’m also part of a girls’ book club – I think it’s more of a gin club but we do talk about books too!
My guilty pleasure is sweets. If I am on a long car journey, I can’t have a bag of pick and mix next to me as I literally can’t stop eating them until they’re all gone.
