ARTA backs Swidler motion

ARTA Canada says it will be supporting a motion by its member, Darrent Swidler of TruExperiences Tours in Toronto at TICO’s 2012 annual general meeting. Swidler’s motion requests that the TICO Board of Directors consider retaining the services of an independent consultant on a temporary basis to conduct a comprehensive review of registrant compliance costs and other TICO operations. In addition, the need for an accountant’s “review engagement” of registrants is extremely costly, when one considers the overall cost of TICO compliance, and may be overkill for home-based agents, non-IATA agents, and TIDS agents which do not require a review engagement for IATA and other provincially regulated jurisdictions, such as British Columbia. ARTA Canada notes that the non-IATA landscape has seen dramatic growth in home-based and hosted agencies, and TICO’s compliance regulations are considered excessive as compared to most agency locations outside of Ontario. The agency group also asks that if agencies do not plan on attending the TICO AGM — which takes place on Tues., Sept. 18 at 4 pm — they are encouraged to submit a proxy to be held and actioned by Darren Swidler. Copies of the proxies are available here: http://www.artacanada.ca/Resources/Documents/TICO%20Proxy%202012.pdf and once completed, they can be faxed directly to Darren Swidler at (416) 486-6233 or scanned and e-mailed to [email protected] . Proxies should be sent no later than 12 pm on Fri., Sept. 14, 2012. Go to http://www.artacanada.ca for more.