ASTA wants agents to join and be counted

ASTA — in coordination with the industry’s leading consortia, franchises and host agencies — has launched its Join and Be Counted membership campaign. Join and Be Counted is an industry-wide effort running through May 21 to expand the Society’s membership base and educate the industry on the critical importance of ASTA’s advocacy work at the federal, state and local levels. Tony Gonchar, ASTA’s CEO, said: “This campaign is about participation. We want to ensure the industry — both agents and suppliers — understands the unique value ASTA delivers on their behalf and that is in the form of a creating and maintaining a healthy retail travel environment in which to conduct business.” Gonchar continued: “ASTA is tackling the very real threats that negatively impact travel agents’ bottom lines. When it comes to protecting agents from anti-competitive taxes, double- and triple-taxation and burdensome regulations, ASTA is the face and the voice of travel agents in state capitols across the country, continuously lobbying to protect their interests. ASTA does the representation work so travel agents can focus on what is most important to them — growing their businesses.” The week-long, multi-media campaign involves a series of targeted pushes by leaders of the industry’s top consortia, franchises and host agencies to their members. These messages will describe the many benefits of ASTA membership and how ASTA membership complements agents’ current consortia/franchise relationships. Go to http://www.ASTA.org for more.