LOWELL, Mass. -- Action6.com members at the consortium's national
convention in Orlando will have an opportunity to earn an Institute
of Certified Travel Agents accredited certificate signifying they
are experts at navigating the Internet.
David Spinelli, general manager of the 2,400-member consortium,
said agents completing the consortium's new Certified Internet
Travel Specialist (CITS) course would acquire the skills necessary
to "know which sites to go to in assisting your client in
traveling.
"You will know where the weather reports are, where the travel
advisories are, what the travel currencies are and search out
specific events."
Action6.com spent two months putting the CITS curriculum
together in association with ICTA, Spinelli said.
He said agents completing the course would receive an
undetermined number of ICTA continuing education units toward their
certified travel counselor or certified travel associate
certification.
Spinelli said that while agents have become experts at using the
computer reservations systems, many are not as skilled at
extracting information from the vast resources available over the
Internet.
"Consumers are [using the Internet] to retrieve information
about where they want to travel and deals and pricing information,"
Spinelli said. "We are going to show the travel agents how to get
more information than they have ever dreamed of out of the
Internet, [for use in] assisting the traveler."
Spinelli said the jury is still out as to whether Internet-based
travel agencies will survive.
"On-line agencies are not doing so well," Spinelli said. "It is
still yet to be proven that [Internet agencies] are a viable
business. But agencies should know how to use the Internet as a
resource."
The Action6.com conference will be held Nov. 17-19. Registration
is $99, which includes meals and hotel for the entire weekend.