ACTA Moves to Prevent Misuse of Certifications
by Judy Jacobs /ACTA, the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies, has begun running background checks on travel agents to prevent the misuse of the Certified Travel Counsellor (CTC) and Certified Travel Manager (CTM) professional designations.
It all started when David McCaig, ACTA’s president and COO, began receiving messages from people who wanted him to join their LinkedIn network. These people indicated on their profiles that they were a CTC or a CTM.
“I started telling my manager who looks after the certification to check out whoever sent [LinkedIn] requests to me to make sure they’re current and to find out whether they actually have the designation,” McCaig said.
“In several cases I saw that they had lapsed in their accreditation, and in one case they had done the preliminaries but didn’t pass the examination.”
Spot checks
That’s when ACTA decided to start doing spot background checks. So far it has issued five cease and desist orders. It expects to issue more in the future.
All of the individuals contacted by ACTA have been cooperative, according to McCaig.
“Everybody responded and told us what happened,” he said. “But if we get somebody who says, ‘You can stick it in your ear,’ we will turn it over to our lawyer.
“It’s a trademark, and there are laws protecting trademarks. Up to this point, however, we haven’t had anything that looks like it’s going to escalate.”
Age-old problem
The misuse of professional accreditations isn’t new; it has probably been going on for a long time.
When the Canadian Institute of Travel Counsellors (CITC), the body that certifies travel professionals in Canada, was a separate entity from ACTA, it didn’t have the staff resources to investigate the problem.
With CITC now integrated into ACTA, the organization can devote more energy to the issue.
ACTA has six regional managers across Canada who can check whether the professional certifications of individuals who list them on their business cards, email signatures or social media profiles are up to date and valid.
“There’s also peer pressure, and that’s always a good sign,” said McCaig. “People are letting us know that some people may not have the designation.”
The move to initiate background checks is part of ACTA’s mandate “to ensure consumers have professional and meaningful travel counseling by providing effective leadership in a number of key strategic areas.”
Among these areas is the facilitation or delivery of professional education and training, including the certification program.
Growing interest
With CITC now under ACTA’s wing, there has been a dramatic increase in interest in the CTC and CTM certification programs.
CITC only had seven requests for certification from 2012 to 2013, but in the first seven months of this year, there have been more than 200. These, however, could include lapsed CTCs who are re-upping, said McCaig.
The fact that people are so intent on using the industry’s professional designations, even if they aren’t doing so legally, says something positive about how Canadian industry members and the public view professional certifications.
“Yes, it’s true,” said McCaig. “Professional certification can help improve your business and your bottom line.”