Now that government restrictions have started to slowly ease in Canada and Canadians are looking to travel again, travel agencies have reported problems with labour shortages, and ACTA is stepping up to the plate to help.
Many advisors left the industry during the pandemic, and ACTA says it expects the shortage to continue to be a "significant issue" for Canada’s retail travel industry in the months and years to come.
“Travel agents were the most impacted labour group by COVID over the past two years according to Stats Canada,” said Wendy Paradis, ACTA president." As consumer confidence builds and travel demand picks up, we are going to need to attract more travel agents to our industry.”
Even prior to the pandemic, staffing was already identified as a key issue for ACTA's agency members.
“In 2019, ACTA worked with our members to update the Travel Agent National Occupation Standards, and developed an entry level online training program for new travel agents based on these standards,” said Paradis.
Over the past few years, ACTA says it has also met with travel supplier partners and travel industry regulators to discuss travel agent standards. One of the issues discussed with regulators was key customer service issues consumers have identified when dealing with a travel agent.
Travel Agent Essentials Program Refined and Re-launched
Since the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020, ACTA has used the time to refine the Travel Agent Essentials online training program. The updated English language program is available now, and the French language program will be available by 31MAR 2022. The online travel agent training program is intended to help new entrants, as well as assist them to move through their career and achieve their Certified Travel Counsellor -CTC and Certified Travel Manager- CTM designations.
Travel Agent Essentials covers all the "core fundaments of travel" including travel agency operations, air travel, ground transportation, cruising and land accommodation and packages.
“With 100% of training provided online, participants learn and study at their own pace in their own place,” said Paradis.
Agents looking for more information can attend an ACTA webinar on Travel Agent Essentials on 29MAR in English and 31MAR in French, with registration available here.
For more information on ACTA, visit its web site.
