ARTA, which in January announced plans to
develop a new travel agent identification program in cooperation
with suppliers and other trade associations, said it will call
together a working group in Dallas next month of U.S. and Canadian
suppliers and retailers to pursue this goal.
It said it
expects to hold a second industry planning meeting in June, after
which it expects to be ready to incorporate the nonprofit TRIP
Partnership to implement and 
manage the
program.
In the meantime,
ARTA has been meeting with suppliers individually and will continue
to do so.
ARTA's plan
envisions a new system of agency numeric codes (called T-Numbers)
for agents or agencies that don't sell air tickets and a new ID
card for all travel retailers called TRIP, an acronym for Travel
Retailer Identification Program.
Meanwhile, since
ARTA went public with its plans, two trade groups have rolled out
their own agent identification programs: the Association of
Canadian Travel Agencies and the United Federation of Travel
Agents' Associations, based in Monaco. Both involve ID cards, and
the Uftaa's program includes access to additional Web-based
technology. Neither involves code numbers for travel agents who
don't sell air.
ARTA said it was
disappointed to learn that two trade groups have struck out on
their own, just as ARTA is fostering creation of an industrywide
approach to agent IDs, a program that could go beyond North
America.
"Being the first
to start issuing cards to travel agencies is far from our goal,"
ARTA's Chairman Barry Richcreek said, adding that a
well-thought-out and widely supported program is more
important.
To contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail
to Nadine Godwin at [email protected].