If you’ve been around the travel trade long enough, you’ll know this much: qualifications come and go, but the good ones tend to be those built with a bit of grit under the fingernails. Less theory, more reality. Less brochure, more back office.
Which is why the latest work by the Australian Travel Careers Council (ATCC) deserves a closer look. Not because it’s flashy, far from it—but because it’s grounded in the sort of practical thinking this industry was built on.
At its fourth Travel Skills Taskforce (TST) forum on 1 April, the ATCC gathered a cross-section of industry operators, about twenty of them, from New South Wales and further afield, to do something deceptively simple: question whether the Certificate III in Travel still fits the job it’s meant to serve.
No small task.
Electives: the quiet influencers
The discussion zeroed in on elective units. Not the headline act, perhaps, but anyone who’s ever hired a junior consultant knows electives can make all the difference between someone who can cope and someone who can’t.
The current model offers five electives. Three sit comfortably within the travel qualification. Two, however, can be drawn from outside—business, ICT, and the like. A useful bit of flexibility, though it raised a few eyebrows when some in the room admitted they hadn’t fully appreciated that the option existed.
There’s a lesson there already.
Chairing the session, ATCC CEO Rick Myatt didn’t dress it up. Electives, he said, need to be chosen with the end job in mind, not simply because they look appropriate on paper. Titles can flatter. Content tells the truth.
It’s a sentiment that would resonate with any old-school agency owner who’s watched a new recruit struggle not because they lack enthusiasm, but because they’ve been trained for a version of the job that no longer exists.
The AI question was handled with care
Naturally, artificial intelligence found its way into the conversation. These days it always does.
But rather than the usual breathless predictions, the tone was measured. Sensibly so.
Chris Ellis from Expedia TAAP made the point that hyper-specific technical training can age badly and quickly. What’s cutting-edge in April risks being irrelevant by Christmas.
Instead, the push is towards fundamentals: understanding what AI can do, where it should be used, and just as importantly, where it shouldn’t. Ethics, responsibility, cybersecurity. Not glamorous topics, but essential ones.
In other words, teach people how to think, not just what to click.
Still a people business, thankfully
For all the talk of systems and software, the room kept circling back to something rather reassuring: travel is still, at its heart, about people.
Adaptability. Judgement. The ability to read a client who doesn’t quite know what they want—and guide them there anyway.
These are not skills you download.
It’s why the emphasis on human-centric capabilities struck a chord. Technology may handle transactions, but relationships remain stubbornly analogue.
And long may that continue.
A broader view is needed
There was also a frank acknowledgment that many new entrants arrive with a narrow view of the industry.
Monica Godfrey highlighted the gap: recruits who understand the mechanics of booking but not the ecosystem surrounding it. Suppliers, distribution channels, and commercial pressures are the moving parts that shape every itinerary.
It’s a blind spot that can be costly.
Broadening the curriculum, then, isn’t about padding it out. It’s about giving future consultants the context they need to make better decisions—and, crucially, to stay in the game.
The realities of delivery
Of course, there’s theory, and then there’s what can actually be delivered.
Myatt was quick to point out that Registered Training Organisations ultimately decide which electives run, based on staffing, resources, and logistics. It’s a constraint that’s as old as education itself.
Veteran tutor Sue Andrikidis added a practical note, emphasising the value of early industry consultation while conceding that flexibility has limits once a course is underway.
It’s not perfect. But it is honest.
Cruise lines on the radar
One area where the industry’s pulse is clearly quickening is the cruise sector. Demand is back, and training is catching up.
Peter Kollar outlined proposed updates to the Cruise Specialist Unit to ensure it reflects how the sector actually operates today, not how it did five years ago.
A sensible adjustment, and one likely to pay dividends as the cruise continues its steady return to form.
The finish line is almost
There’s one more forum to come on 22 April, followed by a final review session in May. That’s where the pieces will be pulled together, tested, and if all goes to plan, shaped into a qualification that does what it says on the tin.
No grandstanding. No revolution.
Just a careful, considered effort to make sure the next generation of travel professionals is trained for the job they’ll actually walk into—not the one we remember.
And in an industry that’s seen its fair share of upheaval, that kind of steady hand feels not just welcome, but necessary.
