TICO: Three-quarters of Auditor General recommendations now complete

The Office of the Auditor General of Ontario (OAGO) has confirmed that the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) has completed 74 per cent of the action items directed at the organization.

TICO shared the update in a press release Thursday (Dec. 11).

Over the past two years, the council has been working to make its operations more efficient by implementing recommendations from the OAGO’s 2023 Performance Audit.

“We recognized these audit recommendations as an opportunity to advance and strengthen the regulatory practices through which TICO oversees Ontario’s travel marketplace,” said TICO's CEO Richard Smart in a statement. “The changes we’ve implemented position TICO to be more proactive, efficient and data-driven, allowing the organization to better serve consumers and registrants alike. We are committed to continuous improvement to ensure Ontario’s travel marketplace remains fair, safe and trusted.”

The OAGO’s two-year follow-up audit confirmed TICO’s progress in addressing these recommendations:

• 74% - TICO has completed 17 of 23 action items, directed solely at the organization.
• 4% - TICO is in the process of completing one of 23 action items, directed solely at the organization.
• 22% - In 2026, TICO will implement five remaining action items, directed solely at the organization.

TICO says the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement continues to consider (and prioritize) addressing recommendation 16, which calls for a comprehensive review of the Travel Industry Act, 2002 and TICO’s mandate.

TICO’s says its “key accomplishments” from the past two years include:

• An enhanced transparency with modernized directory
• Launching an enhanced public search directory, which provides detailed compliance and enforcement information about all registrants.
• Streamlining operations for better oversight of registrants
• Improving application processing, including clearer forms and third-party financial verification. Conducted an analysis of converting to an online application process in the future.
• Updating systems and processes for enhanced complaint outcome tracking.
• Advancing a risk-based oversight model
• Reviewing and updating the risk rating system for registrants to include an assessment of additional non-financial factors, including the results of past registrant inspections and violations of legislative requirements.
• Establishing a policy for how frequently registrant risk ratings should be updated, as well as how frequently TICO should conduct registrant inspections based on each risk rating.
• Strengthening financial reporting and Compensation Fund management
• Implementing a new policy for determining the method and frequency of recovering reasonable costs associated with the administration, management and protection of the Compensation Fund.
• Enhancing financial reports for the Compensation Fund for added transparency.
• Improving security deposit management
• Implementing a process for reviewing and returning registrant security deposits within the established target timeframe.

Since the release of the 2023 OAGO report, TICO has published quarterly progress reports, and future progress reports will continue to be issued until all recommendations are complete.

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