Established in 1977, the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA), is a national trade association representing the retail travel sector of Canada’s tourism industry. ACTA is an industry-led, non profit, membership based organization. ACTA members include retail travel agencies and suppliers such as tour operators, travel wholesalers, airlines, hotels, destination marketing organizations, cruise and rail lines, and automobile rental companies. ACTA represents the interests of Canadian travellers through approximately 2,000 members employing 14,000 travel professionals.
Who is ACTA?
ACTA’s ‘owners’ are its members. They are represented by ACTA’s seven Regional Councils – Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba/Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Alberta/NWT, and British Columbia/Yukon. ACTA is governed by a twelve member policy Board of Directors which include the seven regional council chairs.
ACTA’s head office is located in Mississauga, from which its President & COO manages the secretariat as well as seven regional offices, each staffed by a Regional Manager, which provide decentralized services to members across the country.
ACTA also captures member input and involvement in the future direction and strategies of the organization and overall industry through regular open forums and ad hoc committees, set up on an as required basis.
ACTA’s Mandate
To ensure consumers have professional and meaningful travel counselling by providing effective leadership in a number of key strategic areas on behalf of the retail travel industry members.
- Advocate – in the best interests of the retail travel industry to government, suppliers and other organizations through one strong voice.
- Educate and Elevate – industry standards and professionalism through certification, accreditation and other learning opportunities.
- Promote – the value of the retail travel industry to the travelling public and actively position the travel agent as the authority in travel.
- Connect – our members with the information, contacts and programs they need to be more effective.
Why is ACTA here?
- To ensure consumers have professional and meaningful travel counselling by providing effective leadership in a number of key strategic areas on behalf of the retail travel industry members.
- Advocacy and Lobbying federal and provincial governments and national and multi-national corporations to ensure a positive environment exists for travel retailers to provide service to travel consumers.
- Communications & Public relations to government and travel industry partners to insure they are aware of the importance of the retail travel sector; to the general public to ensure they are aware of the benefits of using ACTA member retailers for their travel needs; and to members and non members to better equip them to manage their businesses.
- Perform and communicate Research which is relevant and meaningful to members and partners to enable them to better manage their businesses and work more effectively together.
- Facilitate or deliver Education and Training to further professionalize the retail travel sector and add greater value to travel consumers. -Membership Development to ensure the greatest participation rate of the retail travel community in ACTA and maximum impact for businesses and consumers in Canada.
What certifications are offered? CTC or CTM
Certified Travel Counsellor (CTC) Certification is based on an individual’s ability to perform the knowledge and performance tasks required to meet travel industry expectations for employment. These tasks are defined in the Occupational Standards for Travel Counselling that were developed in conjunction with the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) using the emerit™ brand.
The Certified Travel Manager (CTM) Program is jointly promoted by The Canadian Tourism Human Resource Sector Council (CTHRC) and the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA). ACTA is an organization that advances the professional development of travel counsellors and managers in Canada.
ACTA supports continuing education and believes it is an integral component to the travel professional’s development. ACTA recently integrated an educational division to our membership, Formerly CITC (Canadian Institute of Travel Counsellors).
Do they offer continuing education?
ACTA Campus, offers access to many fine travel industry specialist and training programs to help you to increase your knowledge and level of professionalism. ACTA Campus is the one stop education platform to access a world of training designed especially for Canadian travel counsellors! XTRAcredits is an ACTA Approved suppler of continuing education courses. For travel counsellors that are working towards their CTC designation all courses on the ACTA Campus have time credits that can be applied towards ACTA members 1800 hours of relevant industry experience. For every completed course members receive 2 credits per 1 hour.
World-leading subject matter experts have designed courses at XTRAcredits in a multitude of skills for ACTA members to engage in for continuing education hours at www.XTRACreditsVT.com and www.XTRACredits.com
————- You are invited, join our XTRAcredits LinkedIn Group —————–
XTRAcredits is a full service boutique that provides continuing education led by top performance leaders from across the globe. The yellow pages for everything continuing professional development credit related.
More about ACTA: The Alliance of Canadian Travel Associations was launched in 1977 when ACTA became autonomous from the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA). The Alliance was at that time formed of regional associations with Regional Boards all across Canada. Following an extensive review of ACTA role and governance done with the Pickard & Laws Firm in 1998-1999, ACTA became a national organization rather than a federation of regional organizations. ACTA’s mission is to foster the success and prosperity of our travel agency members. www.ACTA.ca
Director of Education
Christine Chilton CTM
Tel. (905) 282-9294 ext. 127
The post What is ACTA? appeared first on .