NEW YORK — ASTA’s Young Professionals Society has ambitious plans to begin a major campaign to attract talent to the trade.
Last week, it announced that it had become ASTA’s first “community,” turning what had been a committee into an entity with all the same powers as a chapter.
A community is a chapter that is not geographically based, and members can belong to the Young Professionals Society and a regional chapter simultaneously.
The group already has a Facebook page with nearly 850 “likes” and the name “The New Breed of Travel Agents.”
Members of the Young Professionals will do presentations at upcoming consortia and franchise meetings, asking for financial backing and inviting experienced agents to act as mentors to new entrants; it hopes to build a framework in which younger and older agents can tap into each other’s expertise.
The Ensemble Travel Group has signed on as the group’s first consortium sponsor.
The group spent about six months reorganizing. ASTA had communities in its bylaws, but the Young Professionals worked to refine the definition of a community and how it could work.
ASTA’s Chapter Presidents Council voted unanimously to approve its change of status, said Steve Powers, president of the council and head of the ASTA Long Island Chapter in New York.
“We feel they represent the future of the organization and the business,” Powers said. “We are making every effort we can to encourage them and nurture them. There are a lot of dynamic and interesting people in that group.”
Follow Kate Rice on Twitter @krtravelweekly.