About David Hosking
David Hosking is a tourism and travel professional with experience in industry operations all over the world. He was born on July 31, 1953 in Whangarei, the northernmost city in New Zealand and he now resides in the Swiss city of Nyon, which lies on the coast of Lake Geneva and is near the French border.
Mr. Hosking has a degree in agriculture from the Canterbury University of New Zealand. Business Career David Hosking joined Contiki Holidays in 1976, first as a driver and later as a tour manager in Europe. Next, he became a tour guide in Scandinavia and in the USSR, taking part in several adventure trips including India Overland Travel. These trips started out in Europe, and went all the way to Nepal through Turkey, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. In 1981 Mr Hosking was sent to New Zealand on behalf of Contiki, in order to set up the company's first non-European travel outfit. After purchasing several local tourism companies and establishing the business in New Zealand, he moved to Australia in 1983 to open another Contiki branch. A year later he moved again to Los Angeles and founded Contiki America, which includes both the US and Canada. For four years he served as the president of Contiki America. In 1987 Hosking moved to London and became the manager and director of Contiki Europe. Soon after, Contiki was purchased by the Tollman family, merging Contiki into part of the family-owned tourism group, The Travel Corporation. Mr Hosking was then asked to take on the position of managing director of the worldwide Contiki brand. The Travel Corporation has operations in sixty countries, including: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Japan, China, South Africa Indonesia, Singapore, Switzerland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan. It has 35 offices and employs 4,000 workers. In addition to Contiki, 25 travel brands make up The Travel Corporation. These brands include luxury hotels, river cruise ships and niche tour operators such as: Red Carnation, Brendan Vacations, Creative Holidays, AAT Kings, Uniworld, Trafalgar Tours, African Travel and Trafalgar. In 2000 David Hosking was added to the board of Directors of The Travel Corporation. He also moved to Geneva to live in 1996 and was made member of the board in some of The Travel Corporation's daughter companies, including The Travel Corporation South Africa. Currently David Hosking serves as the global managing director of Contiki Tours International Limited. In recent years Contiki has become the largest travel company in the world for 18-35 year old, operating in more than forty countries around the world. Contiki's philosophy is to create a hassle-free vacation with a mix of sightseeing, culture and free time. The Travel Corporation As a director of The Travel Corporation, and president of The Travel Corporation Conservation Foundation (since 2007), David is fully committed not only to making a successful company but also to helping the world around him. The Conservation Foundation, located in Geneva, is a non-profit organization committed to bringing awareness to environmental issues and promoting sustainable travel. Hosking takes personal interest in various projects TTC commits itself to. In 2011 he collaborated with the daughter of Jacques Cousteau to educate staff and tourists on the dangers facing the marine ecosystem. After the collaboration with Cousteau, Contiki now sends new environmentalists to work at the Great Barrier Reef and do research in water life in the Mediterranean. Personal Activities When he is not working, David Hosking enjoys watching and participating in several sporting activities. He also loves to ski, ride his bicycle and travel. |  David Hosking
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