The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) and OASIS Travel Network (OTN) announced a membership agreement today, which will result in all of OTN’s more than 1,000 members becoming members of ASTA, the first partnership of its kind involving a major host agency.
Under the agreement, beginning on June 1, 2020, OASIS Travel Network will integrate ASTA membership into its suite of benefits for its members, with all OTN members becoming ASTA members as of January 1, 2021. Currently, about 100 of OTN’s members are members of ASTA. ASTA has in place similar membership deals with major consortia such as Ensemble Travel Group, Signature Travel Network, Travel Leaders Group and Virtuoso, but this represents the first such deal with a host agency.
“This agreement comes at a critical time and is a major landmark for ASTA, speaking to the confidence that OTN and its leaders have placed in our industry’s national trade association,” said ASTA president & CEO Zane Kerby in a press statement. “With this vote of confidence, we intend to redouble our efforts to promote and defend the travel advisor community—especially with regard to securing the maximum amount of coronavirus financial relief for agencies and protecting the independent contractor business model so critical to the success of OTN and other host agencies.”
“At OTN, we believe it is essential that our members realize the importance of becoming involved with ASTA, the only organization that advocates for the interests of their chosen profession,” said Kelly Bergin, president of OASIS Travel Network in a press statement. “By including ASTA membership, we are making available to our advisors the many benefits and programs that ASTA provides, such as health care, training, and lead generation. We are so excited about this new partnership.”
“ASTA fights for the travel advisor every single day, and we feel it is vital that every one of our OTN members have the advantage of ASTA membership,” said Lee Smolinski, CEO of OASIS Travel Network in press material. “Every travel advisor benefits from ASTA’s leadership on the most important issues affecting our industry and, therefore, we are proud to now include ASTA membership for every member of OTN.”
“We look forward to welcoming over 600 new members to the ASTA family, and express our heartfelt thanks to Lee, Kelly and their entire team for their leadership and investment in our association’s work to protect and grow this industry,” said Kerby.
For more information, visit ASTA.org and oasistravelnetwork.com. For more agent tools, click here.
