Wednesday, September 4, 2019
WTM Africa, in partnership with the Association of Southern African Travel Agents (ASATA), have launched the ASATA Travel Agents’ Academy, which will be hosted at #WTMA20 in Cape Town.
The ASATA Travel Agents’ Academy will be held in the Destination Theatre on 8 April, the final day of the African continent’s largest B2B travel and tourism trade show.
The ASATA Travel Agents’ Academy has been structured to support the ASATA Professional Programme (APP).
The APP is an online system that recognises travel agents’ expertise, qualifications and practical skills to achieve professional recognition by ASATA and ultimately, a professional designation as either a Travel Practitioner or Travel Advisor.
ASATA is the only local travel industry body to be accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) as a professional body. As such, it is the only association that can award a SAQA-accredited designation to travel consultants.
The ASATA Travel Agents’ Academy will be offering four 45-minute content sessions which will be in the form of training sessions. Travel consultants who attend these sessions will be able to use the Certificate of Attendance received to gain Continuous Professional Development Points (CPD) towards their APP designations i.e. they will be awarded 5 CPD points per session attended. The topics covered during each training session will be aligned to the APP.
Attendance to the ASATA Travel Agent’s Academy is free of charge, but pre-registration will be mandatory.
Megan Oberholzer, Portfolio Director: Travel, Tourism & Sports Portfolio for Reed Exhibitions South Africa says, the partnership will offer unique development opportunities for South African travel agents.
“The establishment of the ASATA Travel Agents’ Academy, in partnership with WTM Africa, is going to add exciting opportunities for agents to gain cutting-edge insights at #WTMA20,” she says. “We are excited to be able to meet the high demand that has inspired this initiative and look forward to working with ASATA to grow it even further in the coming years.”
ASATA CEO Otto de Vries agrees that the benefits offered to travel consultants through the ASATA Travel Agents’ Academy are vast. “The ASATA Professional Programme is a key initiative aimed at driving professionalism within the travel sector. We are thrilled to be entering into this partnership with WTM Africa which will enhance opportunities for travel consultants to achieve their SAQA-accredited designations,” he says.
