CITC's Christine Chilton, Operations Manager & Ed Bennington, Chair
ACTA President David McCaig
CITC Board Member, Carla Lemaire from Grant MacEwan University & Dawn Aitken of Humber
Kathleen Warren of Allison's Travel in Windsor & CITC Board Member, Colleen Lorenzen of Uniglobe Carefree Travel in Saskatoon
Sheridan College's John Lupien & CITC Board Member, Tony Santelli of College April-Fortier
The recent 45th annual CITC AGM marked another milestone in this ever-changing industry. The members of the non-profit organization cast their vote and the majority motioned in favour of its integration with ACTA. “There’s strength in numbers,” said CITC Chair Ed Bennington. “You put CITC and ACTA together and you’ve got amazing synergy.”
CITC’s constant struggle with financial security is no secret. In fact, the proposed 2013 budget projected a $67,000 loss. As for the company’s tech equipment and database, it is so ancient that it would cost an absurd $100,000 just to update.
“Since I came onboard last April, it’s just been trying to keep the business afloat, not having time to do any business building,” said CITC’s Operations Manager Christine Chilton. “Now we are going to finally be able to concentrate on education and certification.” According to Chilton, CITC and ACTA will share finances, CITC will have access to ACTA’s updated database and most importantly, CITC will have more time and funds to build its accreditation amongst schools, travel agencies and tour operators.
Despite the majority vote, a handful of the AGM attendees were clearly opposed to the integration. Because ACTA regulates whole agencies and CITC deals with individual agents, one member expressed concerns that they would lose their right to vote in future ACTA AGMs. According to ACTA President David McCaig, this would require a change in the bylaw.
Leithan Lafayette, a CITC member for 20+ years was worried about the company’s future and asked, “What happens in 2 years? There’ll be no CITC?” He went further and exclaimed, “Sell outs!” after the motion was approved.
The integration is set to be completed by the end of May and McCaig said that CITC members should not expect any interruption in their services.
“Exciting times ahead,” said Chilton optimistically. Moving forward, CITC plans to visit schools, increasing their presence. For agents, they will focus on professional development, the 1st example of which is their 2 upcoming airport workshops on May 28th and 29th. “This is what we do best,” she said. “This is what we need to get out there and do more of - is training and getting out to the schools to sell the travel industry as a viable career option.”
