ACTA hosts travel students at conference

The Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA) recently organized and facilitated a conference at the Woodbine Conference Centre in Toronto for students enrolled in a travel and tourism program.

The Nov. 4 event included participation from eight colleges across Ontario and was host to 200 travel and tourism students, said ACTA. Agenda items included working in a corporate travel environment, a session on travel insurance presented by Manulife, working in a tour operator group department, working in a leisure travel agency and a presentation from WestJet.

The afternoon delivered a travel industry panel who shared their career highlights and spoke about their current positions and opportunities for careers in their fields. Panelists included Suzanne Diefenbaker from Transat Vacations, Mike Foster from Nexion Canada, Beverley Vickers from Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Penny Martin from The Travel Agent Next Door, Roy Kharadi from Hilton Hotels and Zach Vanasse from Young Travel Professionals. Twenty-one suppliers including Air Canada Vacations, TravelBrands, Rail Europe and TICO among others gave the students the opportunity to attend their first travel industry trade show and speak one-on-one with professionals in the industry.

The conference also included a video competition with the theme "Without a Travel Agent, You're on Your Own." The colleges submitted a three minute video and the top two videos were presented at the conference. The winner was Confederation College in Thunder Bay with the second prize going to Centennial College in Scarborough.