New Good Travels Advisor Certification Helps Travelers Give and Volunteer Better

RENO, Nev., Sept. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the first time, travelers who want to make a difference will have access to hundreds of travel agents certified in good travel giving. Good Travels Advisor (GTA) is an online training platform that gives travel agents the knowledge and tools to support clients interested in giving and volunteering.

Tourism Cares launched the program today at the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) Global Convention. 

Demand for meaningful and authentic travel experiences is exploding, and the value of giving and volunteering was illuminated in the 2015 Good Travels research conducted with Phocuswright. The study found that 55% of travelers gave back in some way in the last two years, contributing to trip satisfaction and especially important to millennials, families and the affluent.

Travelers can search for certified agents at www.goodtravels.org (launching December 1, 2016), and find specialists familiar with:

• Finding and funding a cause, at any level
• Tips for finding a volunteer project—and for being a good volunteer
• How to best help a place you love that was hit by a disaster
• Ideas for engaging kids and family
• Examples of what other travelers are doing

Agents become certified through the $22 multimedia course at www.GoodTravelsAdvisor.org.

"We have a number of clients who want to make sure that their children will be good global citizens and they see travel as a way of expanding the experience their children have in life by exposing them to different thoughts, ideas and cultures," said Joshua Bush, CEO of Avenue Two Travel in Villanova PA. "That breeds and creates understanding. By having those experiences, it exposes them to a broader understanding of the way the world works, that it's okay to be different and to have differences, but at the end of the day we are all still basically the same."

Tourism Cares designed GTA with the help of The Travel Institute and ChildSafe, and the program is endorsed by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and by travel agent associations such as ASTA, IATAN and NACTA.

The certification is made possible by the generosity of Marriott International, AIG, and Fathom as well as other sponsors committed to responsible travel and stewardship: Abercrombie & Kent, Amadeus, Collette, Cox & Kings, Micato Safaris, Monograms by Globus, Paul Gauguin Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Rovia, the TreadRight Foundation, Avanti Destinations and TripAssure.

About Tourism Cares

Tourism Cares, Inc., a US 501(c)(3) public charity, maximizes travel's potential to be a global force for good by leveraging the care that travelers and the industry feel for the places we love.  We unite the travel industry to make a greater impact on shared priorities, and to help each company fulfill its giving goals. Together, with leading travel and tourism companies and associations, we make a greater difference on three shared issues: helping destinations in need, supporting our workforce, and improving our corporate social responsibility. Learn more at www.TourismCares.org and @TourismCares.

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SOURCE Tourism Cares