Travel agents have become more than booking agents by bettering the overall travel experience.
On August 9th, 2018, ASTA announced that it is changing its name to the "American Society of Travel Advisors." ASTA members now represent 80% of travel sold through the travel distrubution channel in the United States and is the largest travel professional association. Travelers and consumer media have embraced this shift from travel agent to advisor, which led to ASTA's name change and rebranding campaign.
ASTA is now reimagining its relationship with NACTA (National Association of Career Travel Agents) and will be bringing them under the ASTA banner as the “ASTA Small Business Network,” with the goal to "take our industry – and our members’ business – to the next level."
“This shift happened very organically, with NACTA having been owned by ASTA for 18 years,” said Ann Chamberlin, NACTA president. “The overlap in our memberships sparked a natural progression to merge the two groups into a mutually beneficial association. NACTA members will retain their existing benefits while gaining many more, including the ability to build their client portfolio through ASTA’s TravelSense.orgwebsite. We see this as a huge benefit for NACTA members and their professional development.”
Although their name is changing, ASTA's mission to promote and defend the agency and advisor community isn't. More details of the rebranding will be provided in Washington, D.C., at the ASTA Global Convention on August 21st - 23rd and NACTA Annual Conference on August 23rd -25th.
