It was only June of 2020 that the Association of Canadian Travel Advisors was born, the brainchild of three advisors in the industry who were fed up with the government's lack of support during the pandemic. Judith Coates, Brenda Slater and Nancy Wilson joined forces to start the wheels rolling for change. In just over a year, they've grown to 1800 members who they've advocated for. ACITA is now on the radar after hosting meetings with politicial leaders that include meetings with (former) Health Minister Patty Hadju, and Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra.
And last night, at The Travel Agent Next Door's annual conference in Jamaica, Judith Coates took home an award recognizing those efforts - The Extraordinary Agent Award, voted by her peers, for extraordinary participation in TTAND engagement programs during the pandemic. She also took home the Industry Shaker Award.
"It was all started because of Flemming. We were having weekly COVID meetings, and he would always say, work on the problems you have power over and one of the things you can do is reach out to your MP and tell them what's happening," Coates says modestly.
Flemming Friisdahl, Founder of The Travel Agent Next Door had kept on Coates, asking if she'd gotten a meeting yet with her MP. She was able to secure her first meeting at which time she thought she'd reach out on social media to see if there were any other advisors who wanted to join.
"Brenda was one of them, along with a few other TTAND agents and Nancy," says Coates.
"After the meeting, I called up Brenda, and I said, this is something that we could probably do. As a group of us. Do you want to see if Nancy wants to join in? Maybe we get more advisors to support us? And that's kind of how it all started."
Since their launch ACITA has become an industry expert, providing guidance to independent advisors. TravelPulse asked how the association would continue to be relevant after the pandemic is over; Coates says they will continue to fight for advisors long after the current issues end.
"We've realized that one of the things that our supplier partners could be doing is helping us from their end, and some suppliers are either paying a bonus commission upfront, or protecting our deposits," explains Coates. "At least with bonus commissions we're protected for that much. And those incentives make us want to book more with them, so it would be nice to see more suppliers get on board with that."
We will continue to advocate for our members."
Coates wasn't the only big winner at the Gala of course. Arlene Gibbons took home the Peer to Peer Award (Most Supportive Agent), Christine Winchester won the Ambassador Award and Aaron Sidenberg, Sandra Swash and Jill Detanncour , Julia Lutchman, Kerry Purgavie, Maizy Alexander, Sylvette Deveau, Wendi Gladstone, Carolyn MacMillan, Cory Tukeli, Debra Sheppard took home Millionaire's Rising Star Awards ($125K in preferred commissions).
The Millionaires Achieving Next Levels Award went to: Sharlene Philipchuk (4th Millionaires Level), and Agency ($375K) to Stewart Travel Group.
In addition to the other award winners, every agent in the room won a cruise for two from Royal Caribbean!
Earlier in the day, the Supplier Awards were handed out to the following:
Air Canada Vacations - Sylvette Deveau
AmaWaterways - Kelly Neonakis-Morash
AMResorts.- Sylvette Deveau
Celebrity Cruises - Jeffrey Cohen
Celebrity Cruises - Anna Abbandonato
Celebrity Cruises - Danica Paetkau
G Adventures - Donnalea Madeley
Globus Family of Brands - Kim Friesen
Goway - Scott Waldron
Manulife - Top Sales for an Agency - Stewart Travel Group
Manulife - Top Sales Individual Agent - Kyla Coe
Manulife - Top Closing Ratio - Shelley Cota
Hurtigruten Expeditions - Syndi Prokopich
Insight Vacations & Luxury Gold - Kirsten Oakes
Playa Hotels & Resorts - Angie Brevetti
Railbookers - Lori Smith
Regent Seven Seas Cruises - Garth Layden
Regent Seven Seas Cruises - Sarah Moore
Royal Caribbean International - LEE ANN JENSEN
Royal Irish Tours - Marie-Therese Nyman
Unique Vacations - Sandals & Beaches Resorts - Brenda O'hara
Unique Vacations - Sandals & Beaches Resorts - Judith Oracheski
WestJet Airlines - Mike Gilmore
WestJet Vacations - Ashley Vassallo
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