ACITA (Association of Canadian Independent Travel Advisors) has had a busy summer. Interest in travel renewed and challenges continued across the tourism industry. The Executive Team has focused on the direction it will take going forward.

The Canadian government has moved into the economic recovery phase of the pandemic and ACITA has adapted to the changed environment. They have heard from their membership that there is still work to do to ensure that ITAs (Independent Travel Advisors) are treated as equal partners in the tourism industry and ACITA is up for the challenge.

The Executive Team has identified inequities for ITAs and has developed an action plan to create a secure and fair position for ITAs within the tourism industry.

ACITA will work to address:

1) Continuing building relationships and communication channels with the Federal government to ensure that the impact of decisions made are not negatively affecting ITAs. This includes identifying any business changes that need to be made to ensure ITAs are able to obtain funding immediately in the event of temporary closures of the industry.

2) Expand our supplier relationships, and communicate with them the unique challenges faced by ITAs in an effort to ensure equitable relationships within the industry.

3) Expand the ACITA Executive team, to include representation from all provinces and host agencies; to build a strong and robust network for ITAs across the country.

4) Provide unbiased information to our membership with regards to the terms of partnerships with our host agencies.

The work of ACITA has changed as a result of travel re-opening, they largely remain focused on being the collective voice for all Independent Travel Advisors in Canada. We represent almost half of the Travel Advisors in Canada and are the future of the community as more advisors continue to move to an Independent model.