News and Notes from ASTA’s 2024 Global Convention

Over 1,000 travel advisors descended on Dallas, Texas this week for ASTA’s annual global convention, three days of networking, learning, and celebrating for the U.S.’s travel agency industry.

“They say that everything is bigger in Texas and when I look out over this room, I certainly agree. ASTA IS bigger in Texas. Bigger than I’ve seen our annual conference in some time,” Zane Kerby, ASTA CEO and president, told the crowd during Thursday’s opening session.

The start of this year’s convention, now called the ASTA Travel Advisor Conference, was very much a celebration of the American Airlines U-turn on its anti-advisor NDC move to essentially drop the trade and agency clients from its loyalty program.

That news broke just a few hours before ASTA’s press conference on Wednesday, and was met with applause when ASTA president Zane Kerby brought it up during Thursday’s opening general session.

“It’s fitting that we’re here in Dallas, right in American Airlines’ back yard as they announced yesterday they are doing an about-face on NDC implementation,” he said to applause on Thursday. “It’s the ASTA members who made it happen. It’s you. Together we can and we do affect change.”

But there was a lot more to talk about this week in Dallas, as ASTA not only continues fights on the Hill, but also prepares to fight for its members’ place elsewhere.

Refreshed VTA program
One of those fights is to continue to raise the profession in the eyes of consumers, and ASTA is doing that through a continued focus on its Verified Travel Advisor (VTA) program.

“The barriers to entry to our industry have been far too low for far too long,” Kerby said, announcing that ASTA was expanding and enhancing the VTA program this year.

That includes new requirements to qualify for VTA—at least two years in the business with sales volume of over $500,000 in one of those years or five years with sales volume at $250,000—and mandatory recertification courses every two years.

ASTA plans to promote those who do qualify through a database that will be the go-to-place for consumers to find advisors that are professionally qualified and vetted, something that is needed now more than ever as fraud continues to thrive in the consumer travel booking environment.

“People are looking for travel advisors they can trust and ASTA’s Certified Travel Advisors are the solution,” Kerby said. “Our industry will only ever be as good as the trust we’re able to create with the traveling public.”

Currently, there are 150 ASTA members in the VTA and its board of directors, along with chapter presidents and chapter officers, have all committed to participate in the program. ASTA does not have plans to make it a requirement for its members.

Venus Williams on losing and learning 
Venus Williams, one of tennis’ all-time great players, highlighted this year’s general session. The seven time Grand Slam singles winner and gold medalist spoke to advisors on the importance of resilience and processes, two things that she said she learned from coming of age in a sport like tennis, and things that have proved crucial to her success today as an entrepreneur outside of sports.

“Everything that I learned as a tennis player really translated to me as an entrepreneur once I started my own businesses,” she said. 
Another thing she emphasized is not being afraid to lose, whether that be in sports or in business.

“Losing is part of life but you got to frame the losing the right way. If you are not pushing yourself enough you probably are not going to lose but then you are going to lose in the biggest way because you aren’t going to take risks,” she said.

“With risks come rewards – you have to figure out what that risks means… Life is not about being afraid, you’re going to be afraid. Having courage in the presence of fear is what we need to do. We have to face our future with courage and embrace what’s coming.”

Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Each year at its annual conference, ASTA holds its Entrepreneur of the Year contest in partnership with the Gloria Bohan and Omega World Travel.

This year’s contest featured three contestants, each given three minutes to pitch their idea to the ASTA audience, who then voted in real-time for the winner.

This year’s winner was David Shull and Tern, a CRM with an AI travel planner that says it can “supercharge” agency business. Shull pitched it as an “all-in-one system you need to run your travel business.”

Shull and Tern edged out the other two contestants—Richard Earls and Arqiteq, an AI-based virtual assistant; and Lisa Watson and Fyndtravel, a curated directory and calendar for travel advisors.

New board of directors
ASTA’s annual conference typically marks a new chapter for its board of directors and executive committee and this year was no different.

Two candidates joined the board as Directors-at-Large: Anne MacIntyre , the owner and partner at On the Map Travel’ and Cynthia Tyo the owner of Travel Fargo – Moorhead, Inc.

Alex Sharpe, the president and CEO of Signature Travel Network, is returning to the board as the Consortium Member Director and Shelly Phillips, the owner of Travel By That Girl, is returned as one of the Regional Director Representatives.  

Lee Thomas of NousTravel and Rhona Sumway of TerraMar Travel are also both joining ASTA’s Executive Committee as Vice Chair/Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.