Travel Leaders to Require Membership in ASTA
Travel Leaders' Franchise Advisory Board voted unanimously to require membership in ASTA for all Travel Leaders franchisees beginning in 2015. Mandatory membership will be phased in over the next two years. Travel Leaders is modifying its franchise agreements to add the mandatory ASTA membership language for franchisees, as they come up for renewal. Travel Leaders Franchise Group has also agreed to maintain its Premium Member status in ASTA as part of the agreement.
This is ASTA's the third membership agreement this year. In September it signed an agreement with the Signature Travel Network to mandate membership in ASTA, effective Jan. 1, 2015. In June, the MAST Travel Network agreed to pay a portion of its members' ASTA dues. ASTA's current membership is about 8,000, although that number is much higher given the number of agents who are represented indirectly as employees of member agencies. Total firms represented are about 3,500, of which 2,000 are U.S. domestic travel agencies.
ASTA continues to rebuild its membership and the resources it offers members. New benefits include a Value of Travel Agents Study, new Travel Agent and International Travel Agent membership cards, an updated regulatory compliance handbook, and a new system for agency owners to test their agents’ knowledge of that compliance. The association is also beefing up its regular events this year. It is adding to its webinar series, adding an International Agent Summit, and introducing a new multi-national corporate travel program as part of its next ASTA Global Convention to be held in 2015 in Washington D.C. The ASTA Destination Expo is scheduled for Feb. 26 to March 1 in Marrakech, Morocco.