At this year's sold out ASTA Travel Advisor Conference, taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah, members gathered to talk about the state of the industry, taking note of the extraordinary and ongoing recovery of the travel industry over the last several years while also addressing key challenges facing travel advisors in the coming years.
The conference focused on education, networking and advocacy efforts, which led to a sellout crowd for the second year in a row. The general session highlighted key issues, including the importance of uniting and advocating for reasonable rules and laws, pushing back on misguided regulations and fighting proposed tax regulations as well as hot-button issues such as the challenges of book direct schemes and the progress in artificial intelligence.
In a sit-down interview with ASTA's president and CEO Zane Kerby during the conference, TravelPulse discussed several of these issues that ASTA sees as its primary challenges in the coming year.
ASTA President and CEO Zane Kerby speaks at the 2025 Travel Advisor Conference. (Photo Credit: ASTA/Jason Dixson Photograpy)
One significant issue airline refunds, where Kerby and ASTA hope to be able to relieve travel advisors from serving as "de facto banks" for airlines when it comes to the responsibility of refunds. Currently, there is a letter circulating in the U.S. House of Representatives written by Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne of Texas to gain bipartisan support for replacing this rule. The letter is intended to reach Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has already reached out to ASTA looking for insight on rules and regulations the organization sees as "no longer in the public interest."
In addition, other regulations require agents to inform clients of airline disclosures during several points during a sale, and while Kerby understands the issues around disclosures, he noted that the fines are excessive.
"Do I think our members need to pay $41,000 if they forget to tell their clients about these disclosures? No. I don't believe that. So we are trying to fix those kinds of things with Secretary Duffy and this letter will be very helpful in that regard," he said.
ASTA is also working on the local level to lobby state governments to solve issues that are making it more expensive for advisors to do business in Nebraska and Louisiana. ASTA has local lobbyists on the ground advocating to fix these issues.
"They're trying to actually make it more expensive to buy travel in both of those states," said Kerby.
Hawaii is another battleground for the association, where it's fighting against tax increases on cruises. The state legislature passed a bill that would treat cruise ships like hotels, charging an 11 percent tax in addition to the 4.65 percent that cruise ships pay to dock.
"It seems like travel is being targeted for additional taxes at almost every turn, so ASTA has a big role to play there."
In October, advisors can play there own important role during ASTA's Legislative Day where travel advisors can lobby Congress to free them from airline refund liabilities, share their local needs with Congress members and highlight the major roles they play in their individual state economies.
ASTA Verified Travel Advisor
ASTA's Verified Travel Advisor program played a big role at the conference. The organization has launched VeriVacation.com, an online platform connecting consumers with verified travel advisors who have completed ASTA's rigorous courses.
To become verified, advisors must complete a rigorous course of work, including classes on legal issues, regulatory compliance and ethics. Currently, there are about 1,000 verified advisors with 65 completing the course during the an eight-hour testing session at the conference in Salt Lake City.
"I want every travel advisor to be a member of Verified Travel Advisor. I think that's the role of a trade association—to define what the profession is and set educational and professional standards," said Kerby.
New Board of Directors and Executive Committee Announced
ASTA said goodbye to long-serving board chair Jackie Friedman who has been serving on ASTA's board of directors for 10 years and announced a new slate of directors and committee members. During her tenure, Friedman celebrated record high membership.
The Board annually elects Directors to serve on its Executive Committee, which includes the Chair, the Vice Chair/Secretary and the Treasurer.
2026 ASTA Travel Advisor Conference
Next year, ASTA's Travel Advisor Conference is heading to San Diego. The event will take place May 27-29, 2026, at the new Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center with keynote speaker Rachel Hollis, the author of several New York Times best-selling self-help books and host of The Rachel Hollis Podcast.
Leading the educational content is the Dale Carnegie Institute with additional confirmed speakers, including Nadia Sparkle, founder of Travel With Sparkle; Denella Ri'chard, host of the popular television travel show, Traveling With Denella Ri'chard; Angela Hughes, CEO of Trips & Ships Luxury Travel and a travel and tourism professor at Brigham Young University; and Kha Ly, a marketing and technology expert specializing in the travel industry.
Registration is now open.
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