Op-Ed: 60 Years and Counting… Amid Constant Change, An Unwavering Mission

As we turn the page from our milestone 60th year, I’ve been reflecting on where we’ve been AND where we’re going. Born from a collaborative industry effort, The Travel Institute’s non-profit mission has always been, and will always be, travel professional success. 

While our mission has not changed, how we achieve it certainly has. Personally, I’ve seen this mission up close for 30+ years, starting as a volunteer. Achieving our mission has meant keeping up with changes in travel, education, and technology to ensure best-practice learning. From booking processes to traveler patterns and preferences; specialty nuanced travel options; a revised business model for agencies; changing agent profiles; and ever-evolving best business practices, our fast-paced industry is continuously changing and so must we, too. 

Of course, the need for change is not unique to The Travel Institute. All professionals, including travel agents, must continually change to grow and maintain value. This past year, we launched a dedicated new agent scholarship fund; four new courses, including Paris, Netherlands, Vietnam and Group Travel; a new learning tool for certification students; all-new professional educator learning sessions on trending topics, all while maintaining a robust student engagement and support system focused on immersive learning.

These accomplishments matter because they translate into travel professionals’ growth—and grow they have! In the last 12 months, we’ve recognized more than 600 newly certified graduates while averaging 800 enrollees each year. For new agent learning, we’ve averaged 51% growth in enrollments over the past two years, a critical audience for us and the industry because they represent the talent of tomorrow.  Many others took specialist courses or benefitted from our online, on-demand library. We also continue to match graduates with both employers and consumers through our online directories. 

And why does this growth matter? Importantly, it’s been proven over and over that our certified agents have the highest job satisfaction and earnings—this fact is well understood across the industry. With our non-profit mission always top of mind, we continually re-invest to maintain our role as the industry’s educational gold standard. Estimating we’ll end 2024 with an impressive 40% overall growth over the past two years, the industry clearly sees the value of quality education. 

Also a year of celebration, we named our second Educational Excellence Award winner, received our second Gold Magellan Award—this time for our CTA program—and, in celebration of our 60th, we featured select industry leaders’ and legends’ reflections; shared a special gift with certified graduates; and, held our own anniversary celebration, giving away 100 free course enrollments while engaging with students, partners, sponsors and others about the ongoing importance of education.

Most recently, we held a collaborative meeting with our accomplished, diverse and experienced board and staff members, generating an abundance of both achievable and ambitious ideas. We know educated agents are better producers and we emerged from our multi-day meeting energized and excited to further support their development. Re-affirming our commitment to being THE driver of educational excellence at every level of a travel professional’s career, from front-line agents to industry executives, we plan to create more tools and tap into more resources to further our curriculum and learning opportunities. 

And so, with new insight and inspiration, we’re rolling up our collective sleeves to plan the next chapter for travel industry education. Stay tuned and know at the heart of everything we do is an unwavering mission that is as meaningful and rewarding today as it was 60 short years ago. 

Happy Holidays & Safe Travels,

Diane Petras, CTIE
President
The Travel Institute