CHICAGO -- "How would you feel about [us] changing our name?"
David Preece, president and CEO of the Institute of Certified
Travel Agents, looked out expectantly at a group of six
Chicago-area CTCs who gathered at a restaurant here to welcome
Preece to ICTA.
There was a moment of silence, after which he added, "It's a
strategic consideration. We're thinking about it."
"What specific [changes] were you thinking about?" asked Carol
Lekki of Carol's Travel Service and Cruise Center in Orland Park,
Ill.
" 'Agent' would probably go," Preece said. "Travel needs to be
there. Certified? Not necessarily. But we'll keep 'Institute.'
"
More suggestions were called out: "Counselor." "Professional."
"Executive."
"I like 'travel professional' rather than agent. That's one
change I would like to see," said Joanne Giampa, a travel and
tourism professor at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Preece made some notes. "Professional and education certainly
are in the lexicon," he said.
Preece was full of surprises that evening. He said he's
exploring changes in what has been the very heart of ICTA's
mission, the "designations" -- those suffixes CTC (certified travel
counselor), CTA (certified travel associate) and DS (destination
specialist) that the industry prizes as a sign of advanced and
continuing education.
"Are there too many [designations]?" Preece asked. "Not
enough?"
In an era of declining numbers of travel agencies, ICTA is
making bold moves in an attempt to grow its membership base, and in
choosing Preece as its leader last March, it apparently has hired
an activist.
He previously had stated that he sought to widen the
organization's base to include professionals who had not received a
designation. Likewise, he had said the group's annual meeting, the
ICTA Forum, will for the first time be open to nonmembers this
fall.
Preece also told the group that he and ICTA vice chair Scott
Ahlsmith had visited the Mark Travel Corp. and Apple Vacations to
discuss putting together educational programs tailor-made for the
two firms.
Executives at both companies "were very receptive to exploring
the idea," he said. These meetings were part of ICTA's plan to make
its programs available outside the context of formal
certification.
Preece also talked about ICTA being a clearinghouse for
educational material produced by other organizations, such as
textbooks produced by other publishers.
"The ICTA board is committed to doing what it has to to evolve
the mission of ICTA. For me the problem is: which opportunities to
pursue?"
Preece hinted that for ICTA to accomplish its goals, it may have
to dip into the endowed ICTA Fund. "It's there to help during rainy
days, to provide working capital. We plan to respect it -- we'll
reinvest in it during good times," he said.