ATAS training requirements raised following review

Under the latest enhancements to the Australian Federation of Travel Agents’ ATAS scheme, agencies will be required to lift the minimum training levels of their staff from 20% to 30%.

The latest amendments to the scheme’s criteria were confirmed this week by AFTA, following an extensive review.

Under the changes, 30% percentage of all customer-facing selling staff should have a certificate 3 or at least five years’ demonstrated experience.

But accredited organisations that don’t conform to the new standard will be given time to raise their training levels to the new higher levels as part of the renewal process, AFTA chief executive Jayson Westbury confirmed. The amount of time will be assessed on a “case by case basis”.

“Even on what we known now, we don’t believe we will see very many organisations that are already accredited affected by that increase,” Westbury told Travel Weekly, explaining that most agencies, even the smaller ones, would already more than fulfill the criteria.

“Where this is likely to have more of an impact is on the new entrants to the industry,” he said.

The overarching aim is to “incrementally lift the bar”, thereby slowly elevating standards across the industry, Westbury revealed.

“It may be that the percentage continues to climb over time,” he added.

There are currently no statistics as to how many agents currently possess those qualifications in Australia.

“But anecdotally, we have a sense of it which is how we came to this percentage,” Westbury explained.

Other amendments to the ATAS Charter and Code of Conduct include the immediate referral of any suspension or cancellation of an agency’s accreditation to the chief executive, along with any appeals to be reinstated.

“We’ve done that because we believe it’s more efficient and any suspension or cancellation needs to have immediacy,” Westbury said.

“The requirement to try and convene a mid-committee of the board provides us with a number of challenges around diaries and the practical application of the processes so we’ve simplified the process in order to expedite matters.”

Last month, Yup Travel became the first ATAS agency to have its accreditation cancelled.

Advertise with us

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

accreditation afta agents atas jayson westbury qualifications training