Gift of Learning Available for Agents at All Career Stages
FRAMINGHAM, MA, November 20, 2023 – The Travel Institute’s Season of Giving is back starting November 24, Black Friday, with tuition assistance for travel professionals at all levels of experience. Until year’s end, The Travel Institute’s most popular programming, including certification, lifestyle and destination courses, new agent training, and the Premium Access online library are available at 20% off, along with a special, 3-course bundle rate for Northern, Central and Southern Europe specialization.
As the industry’s education leader and a non-profit, The Travel Institute focuses on quality and affordable education year-round. “Still, our Season of Giving helps agents save even more, further enabling them to give themselves or a colleague the gift of education,” enthused Diane Petras, CTIE, president of The Travel Institute. Petras emphasized key findings from the 2023 Changing Face of Agents survey, which found travel professionals achieving certification or specialist designations from The Travel Institute consistently earn more than their industry peers.
This year’s Season of Giving options include:
- Advanced Certification: Experienced North American agents earn their Certified Travel Associate, CTA®, Certified Travel Counselor, CTC®, or Certified Travel Industry Executive, CTIE®, credentials, joining more than 30,000 certified graduates and benefiting from the Certified Travel Agent DirectorySM, an online, no-cost, agent directory for consumers.
- Lifestyle, Niche, and Destination Courses: Specialist courses support agents in matching itineraries and attractions to traveler lifestyles and interests while also fostering critical business skills. From niche markets such as luxury and wellness to key destinations worldwide, these courses tap into curated lists including key attractions, culture, special events and public holidays, travel secrets, optimal travel times, shopping, dining and entertainment. Specialist credentials are earned through an optional exam and experiential checklist. Also available in Premium Access.
- TRIPKITSM Introductory Training: This award-winning, in-depth course provides the foundational industry knowledge and critical business skills new agents need. Accessible anytime/anywhere, TRIPKIT packs the equivalent of one year of college into a 19-lesson, self-paced timeline with an emphasis on real-world experiences for both Canadian and U.S.-based students. TRIPKIT also includes the 15-chapter Exploring the World destination geography resource. Students passing the online, proctored Travel Agent Proficiency, or TAP®, test are featured online at “Hire me!”
- Premium Access Online Library: Agents unlock unlimited, continued learning via The Travel Institute’s ever-growing Premium Access library, which includes recordings of all “Ted Talk-style” webinars; all Lifestyle, Niche, and Destination courses and specialist designations; Business Planning, Business Ethics, and Travel Agency Finance courses; white papers on timely, critical industry topics; ongoing product discounts; and significant new content slated for 2024.
- Europe Specialist 3-Course Bundle: Combining three courses into one—Northern Europe, Central Europe and newly released Southern Europe—agents master European travel through this series. Designed for agents to become proficient in Europe’s vast cultural norms, varying climates, rich history, inter-region travel, tipping, adventure travel options and other nuances of the countries, this bundle also offers professional sales strategies to close the sale with travelers. Also available in Premium Access.
As the travel industry’s gig economy continues to attract new talent, Petras reiterated agent education is critical to agents and their travelers, and to the industry broadly. “I’ve said it before: there’s no shortcut to agent success—it takes interest, effort and know-how. Travelers want to work with skilled agents to ensure their investment in travel is worthwhile, and suppliers want advisors who effectively represent and sell their products with bottom-line results. Continued, quality agent education simply makes sense and The Travel Institute offers exactly that.”
The Travel Institute continually develops and updates course content utilizing an interactive, online learning platform with demonstrated success in higher engagement and increased retention. Successful completion of a specialization course qualifies for 10 Continuing Education Units (CEUs), an annual requirement of CTA®, CTC®, and CTIE® professionals. Completion of other online courses and content offer a varying number of CEUs. Learn more at Season of Giving.