The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) and the OASIS Travel Network (OTN) have reached agreement on a first-of-its-kind partnership that will integrate ASTA membership into OTN's member benefits.
All 1,000-plus OTN members will become ASTA members as of January 1, 2021, under the deal, which begins June 1.
This is the first such partnership ASTA has formed with a major host agency. The organization has agreed to similar membership deals with major consortia including Ensemble Travel Group, Signature Travel Network, Travel Leaders Group and Virtuoso.
"This agreement comes at a critical time and is a major landmark for ASTA, speaking to the confidence that OTN and its leaders have placed in our industry's national trade association," said ASTA President & CEO Zane Kerby in a statement accompanying Monday's announcement. "With this vote of confidence, we intend to redouble our efforts to promote and defend the travel advisor community-especially with regard to securing the maximum amount of coronavirus financial relief for agencies and protecting the independent contractor business model so critical to the success of OTN and other host agencies."
"At OTN, we believe it is essential that our members realize the importance of becoming involved with ASTA, the only organization that advocates for the interests of their chosen profession," added OTA PresidentKelly Bergin. "By including ASTA membership, we are making available to our advisors the many benefits and programs that ASTA provides, such as health care, training and lead generation. We are so excited about this new partnership."
"ASTA fights for the travel advisor every single day, and we feel it is vital that every one of our OTN members have the advantage of ASTA membership," said OTN CEO Lee Smolinski. "Every travel advisor benefits from ASTA's leadership on the most important issues affecting our industry and, therefore, we are proud to now include ASTA membership for every member of OTN."
Approximately 100 of OTN's members are already ASTA members.
"We look forward to welcoming over 600 new members to the ASTA family, and express our heartfelt thanks to Lee, Kelly and their entire team for their leadership and investment in our association's work to protect and grow this industry," Kerby concluded.
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