A CTA certification group (Photo Credit: The Travel Institute)
WHY IT RATES:The Travel Institute continues to up the ante on new and creative ways to engage travel advisors, and its new Certified Travel Associate Immersion Program, which couples education with personal travel experiences, serves as an excellent case in point. Earlier this month, The Travel Institute unveiled the Air Travel Immersion Program. - Claudette Covey, Executive Retail Editor.
The Travel Institute has launched a new experiential education concept for travel advisors with its Certified Travel Associate (CTA) Immersion Program, combining professional education with firsthand travel experiences to help advisors build more successful travel businesses.
AmaWaterways served as the inaugural Immersion Program host, bringing 15 travel advisors together aboard AmaStella Aug. 15-22 for a Rhine River cruise. The new program combines preparation for The Travel Institute’s CTA certification with facilitated live learning, peer-to-peer discussion, firsthand product and destination experiences, and proctored certification testing.
The immersion also gives advisors the opportunity to apply professional concepts in a real-world travel environment while learning alongside other industry professionals. “The immersion concept brings a powerful new dimension to our professional training and certification programs,” said Guida Botelho, CTIE, vice president at The Travel Institute.
“When advisors come together around professional education, the conversations become richer, ideas are exchanged, practical insights are shared, and advisors challenge and learn from one another. They also build relationships that extend beyond the classroom. That combination of structured education, peer learning and shared experience is difficult to replicate in a traditional training environment.”
The CTA Immersion Program is designed to bridge the gap between professional education and real-world application. Participating advisors completed their CTA preparation before arriving on board. During the immersion experience, facilitated learning and discussion focused on the practical skills advisors need to build and grow their businesses, including professional ethics, communications, sales and consumer-focused selling, marketing, itinerary planning travel insurance, cruise, all-inclusive travel and escorted trips.
“We are incredibly grateful to AmaWaterways for partnering with us on this inaugural immersive experience and for recognizing the vital role education plays in advisor success,” said Taylor Ruecking, president of The Travel Institute.
“Travel advisors are essential to connecting suppliers with travelers, and they need both professional expertise and firsthand product knowledge to confidently recommend the right experiences for their clients. The Travel Institute is committed to providing the highest-quality education, certification and tools, and this immersion demonstrates the power of bringing professional development, experiential learning, and product knowledge together.”
“Travel advisors are essential to AmaWaterways and investing in their education is an investment in our shared success,” said Ann Chamberlin, CTA, CTIE, senior director of key accounts, AmaWaterways. “Partnering with The Travel Institute gave us an opportunity to advance advisor education in selling our journeys, and we are proud to support these professionals.”
Expanding Experiential Education for Travel Advisors The Travel Institute plans to expand the CTA Immersion Program with more travel industry partners, creating new opportunities for advisors to pursue professional development while experiencing destinations and travel products. The CTA Immersion follows the recent launch of The Travel Institute’s Air Travel Immersion Program, a series of expert-led, interactive live sessions Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 2026.
The Travel Institute’s CTA program is a self-paced professional certification program designed for working travel advisors seeking to build credibility, strengthen their professional knowledge and client relationships, boost sales skills, and grow their travel businesses. The CTA designation represents a commitment to professional development and excellence in the travel industry. The CTA Immersion Program adds an experiential component to the certification journey.
SOURCE: The Travel Institute press release
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