Questex Travel Group, publisher of Travel Agent and Luxury Travel Advisor magazines announced today that it has partnered with the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) to showcase their new Verified Travel Advisor Certification Program via Questex’s iconic Travel Agent University e-learning platform.
ASTA launched the Verified Travel Advisor (VTA) program in August to convey to consumers a travel agent’s value and legitimacy. Agents who wish to display the ASTA VTA icon on their websites and business cards must successfully complete courses in ethics, law, marketing, and sales and negotiation, among others.
Travel Agent University (TAU), with over 79,000 active members, is the industry’s largest online travel agent community and has graduated more specialists than any other industry education program.
John McMahon, Questex Travel Group executive vice president, said the partnership is a key strategic move for the TAU brand because it will enable agents to not only get immersed in supplier education, but also help build their professional skill set, and be more valuable to the growing demand for travel agents in the marketplace, especially with millennials.
“We are delighted to partner with ASTA on their first certification endeavor,” said McMahon. “As the pioneer and leader in travel agent education, Questex’s first commitment is to helping agents sell more travel and by incorporating this program into the TAU platform, agents will have a one-stop shop for all their professional growth needs.”
Hosting the VTA program on Travel Agent University was a natural solution for ASTA. While it is also offered on the association’s website, most of their current, and potential future members tend to frequent TAU.
“Travel Agent University is a go-to educational resource for North American travel agents,” said Zane Kerby, ASTA’s president & CEO. “It made sense to provide ASTA members as well as non-member agents the ability to access Verified Travel Advisor training where they already spend time learning.”
Launched in 1993, Travel Agent University is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week and graduates another agent every five minutes. Along with the best-in-class Travel Agent University courses offered on this proprietary platform, Questex continues to offer fully customized, white label e-learning and loyalty solutions. For more information, visit www.travelagentuniversity.com.
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