ALL QUIET ON THE TICO FRONT

With little controversy on the agenda, the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) enjoyed its quietest annual meeting in years at Toronto’s Congress Centre late Tuesday afternoon. Only a few dozen travel agents turned up to the 16th annual affair and a reporter was ribbed about having nothing to write about — this after a string of robust meetings in previous years that included a debate over Compensation Fund rate hikes in 2012 amidst charges of fiscal mismanagement at the government-mandated regulatory board. This year, not a single question was asked of the TICO execs on hand, nor any comment made. Delegates were told (and shown via power point) that TICO’s financial house was in order (as it was last year, despite the assertions of one delegate); updated on the successful launch of TICO’s “FantasTICO” campaign with the trade, to be followed this summer with consumer outreach; and that more Fund rate hikes will be studied but not necessarily implemented. With all seemingly carrying on in steady fashion, Ontario registrar Michael Pepper reported that TICO had actually seen its first increase in registrations in many years in the province (2,550, an increase of 160 over the previous year, but including 119 terminations) and that it had actually recovered more money from failures than paid out (including $100,000 on Conquest alone). The only thing left to say was “meeting adjourned.”