The Travel Institute Launches New Certified Travel Associate Immersion Program
by Dori Saltzman
The first class of advisors to earn their CTA through the CTA Immersion Program. Photo: The Travel Institute
The Travel Institute, in partnership with AmaWaterways, launched a new Certified Travel Associate (CTA) immersion program that combines an AmaWaterways cruise with professional education, peer learning, and CTA certification.
The inaugural program took place onboard the AmaStella from Aug. 15 to 22, bringing 15 travel advisors together for live learning, peer-to-peer discussions, destination immersion, and proctored certification testing.
“The immersion concept brings a powerful new dimension to our professional training and certification programs,” said Guida Botelho, CTIE, vice president at The Travel Institute. “When advisors come together around professional education, the conversations become richer, ideas are exchanged, practical insights are shared, and advisors challenge and learn from one another. They also build relationships that extend beyond the classroom. That combination of structured education, peer learning and shared experience is difficult to replicate in a traditional training environment.”
According to The Travel Institute, the CTA Immersion Program is designed to bridge the gap between professional education and real-world application.
Participating advisors completed their CTA preparation before arriving onboard. Once onboard, the sessions and discussions focused on the practical skills advisors need including professional ethics, communication, sales and customer-focused selling, itinerary planning, marketing, insurance, and more.
“We are incredibly grateful to AmaWaterways for partnering with us on this inaugural immersive experience and for recognizing the vital role education plays in advisor success,” said Taylor Ruecking, president of The Travel Institute. “Travel advisors are essential to connecting suppliers with travelers, and they need both professional expertise and firsthand product knowledge to confidently recommend the right experiences for their clients. The Travel Institute is committed to providing the highest-quality education, certification and tools, and this immersion demonstrates the power of bringing professional development, experiential learning, and product knowledge together.”
“Travel advisors are essential to AmaWaterways and investing in their education is an investment in our shared success,” said Ann Chamberlin, CTA, CTIE, senior director of key accounts, AmaWaterways. “Partnering with The Travel Institute gave us an opportunity to advance advisor education in selling our journeys, and we are proud to support these professionals.”
The Travel Institute plans to expand the CTA Immersion Program with more travel industry partners. The CTA Immersion follows the recent launch of The Travel Institute’s Air Travel Immersion Program.
