During the Beyond Borders 2025 in Brisbane, the Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) assigned the Committee of Independent Travel Agents and Advisors (CTA) as a supplementary Independent Committee and reaffirmed the dedication of every member to maintaining a unique voice in the driving industry leadership of the country.
During Beyond Borders 2024, the activity was flagged to the ATIA Directors as each of them would take on a member sector as their line of responsibility cultivated. This was to enable the industry to have as many voices as possible on the Board.
Over the past year, the American Travel Industry Association (ATIA) has been building on a set of commitments made in the past. ATIA’s first ally was the Association of Travel Management Companies (ATMC) in the aid of the help they provide to corporate travel companies. More recently, ATIA have open the CTA as a voice to the independent travel brokers.
Independently, CTA offers agents the opportunity to both provide and receive guidance ATIA as developed policy and performed advocacy actions on the industry and in addition to that, members may set the direction, advance on the agenda, and resolve particular issues their businesses are currently facing.
The founding committee is scheduled to be made in the latter part of 2025. All ATIA members who wish to engage in CTA will be respondents to an invitation to provide expressions of interest to be considered for the association. People who wish to support setting the committee’s initial focus may submit their interest on the ATIA home page.
In this case, the Travel Industry Association of Australia ATIA seeks to confirm its focus on ensuring that every member’s class, such as wholesalers, retailers, corporates, tour operators, and independent members, is of utmost importance for determining the future of the Australian travel industry.
“Launching CTA is the outcome of the last 12 months spent in improving the representation of different equals to ATIA,” said Christian Hunter, chair of the ATIA. We have once again made progress in ensuring that every member gets representation and a say in the decision-making processes. This one is also well thought off and mindfully planned.
The work is as per the post Interim Strategy that we tabled at the Beyond Borders 2024. We previously prepared different tasks for every member for the Board. Then, we entered into an agreement with ATMC for the representation of corporate agents, while at this stage we are collaborating with CTA for the representation of independent agents.
Autonomous agent activities have always been an integral part of any ATIA thinking. Thanks to CTA, they now have formal status to set the agenda, shape the agenda’s results, and keep in touch with the lobbying and policymaking activities that push their businesses forward.
