The Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA) reports it is seeking candidates for its board of directors beginning in 2011. Travel professionals who have been an ARTA member for at least one year are invited to submit their candidacy for election to the board and help steer ARTA into next year and beyond, ARTA said.
ARTA asks agents to express their interest with a brief statement about their background to [email protected] on or before 30 September 2010.
ARTA was formed in 1962, by a small, but vocal group of retail travel agents and lays claim "to be the voice of the small and independent travel agents across the country."
While engaged in many projects at different levels, its two primary activities center around providing educational and training opportunities to all levels of agents, and representation of their point of view before industry, government, and consumer organizations, ARTA says. ARTA also lays claim to be the first organization to welcome individual sales counselors through its ranks.
ARTA's policies are grounded in the determination that the small and medium sized agents must, and can, remain a viable source in the sales process, regardless of the competitive pressures, the association says.
"ARTA's role will be to continue the fight to ensure an equitable competitive battlefield, and provide the educational and training services necessary to enable the individual agent to adjust to the challenge of the changing times," ARTA says. The association has two levels of membership and welcomes independent agents.
Visit www.artaonline.com.