by Robin Amster
Last updated: 10:05 AM ET, Tue August 29, 2017
ASTA is launching the ASTA Verified Travel Advisor (VTA) certification program for its members.
ASTA President and CEO Zane Kerby made the announcement during the ASTA Global Convention at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina.
He called the new certification, "one powerful comprehensive program for you [ASTA members] to achieve trust and integrity and gain a competitive edge."
Developed by ASTA staff as well as other business and industry professionals, the VTA consists of nine courses on a variety of subjects including ethics for travel advisors, marketing, a legal overview of the travel agency industry, the art of negotiation, agency relationships and the law, and U.S. travel agency regulatory compliance.
Any travel advisor anywhere in the world who meets the membership criteria to join ASTA can take the VTA program. The registration fee includes a one-year ASTA membership for agents who are not currently members of the association. The course work is open to all agents, but only those who are ASTA members can receive the VTA designation.
The majority of the courses will take an hour to one-and-a-half hours to complete. The course is made up of a manual, online video and exam.
Kerby said that when he took over as ASTA CEO and president four years ago, "The mainstream media took pleasure in depicting a decimated landscape for travel agents."
"Today the question has switched from what is a travel agent to how do I find the best agent?" he added. "The VTA program will show that ASTA and its agents are the standard bearers of excellence."
ASTA's aggressive consumer awareness campaign has helped make the turnaround in the public's perception of agents.
"Over the past year, there has been some real momentum [in the consumer awareness campaign]," said Jay Ellenby, chair of ASTA's executive committee and president of Safe Harbors Business Travel. "In eyes of the media, we are making our own headlines."
Ellenby said ASTA's focus on consumer awareness is just one of the pieces that came together in its recent efforts before the Association undertook its own certification program.
ASTA had considered working with the Travel Institute, which offers a variety of travel professional certifications but decided to go its own route, Kelby and Ellenby said.
[READMORE]READ MORE: ASTA's Plan to Maximize Travel Agents' Rebirth[/READMORE]
The VTA will also have a significant government angle also, said Eben Peck, ASTA's senior vice president of government and public affairs. The association already has a course on agent compliance with the plethora of Department of Transportation rules.
This area-so critical to agents-will be addressed in the VTA coursework, Peck said.
The cost of the VTA program is $399 per person for ASTA members, $598 for non-member independent travel advisors, and $729 for non-member travel advisors.
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