ASTA Holds Joint CPC, Board Meeting

On the Agenda: Consolidated 2009 Budget, Bylaws Amendments

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. December 09, 2008

ALEXANDRIA, VA, December 9, 2008. ASTA held its annual joint meeting of the Board of Directors (BOD) and Chapter Presidents Council (CPC) Dec. 2-4. After careful review and discussion of the budget as presented, the Board unanimously approved a balanced consolidated operating budget for the 2009 calendar year, along with a consolidated fixed asset budget.

Also on the agenda were several amendments to the ASTA Bylaws. While at the meeting, the Board unanimously voted to approve:

---| a motion that the title of chief elected officer be changed to President and Chairman of the Board and that the chief staff officer's title be changed to Chief Executive Officer. (Duties as currently reflected in the Bylaws will not change.)

---| an amendment stating that the International Chapter Presidents Council (ICPC)-selected Director, who also serves as the ICPC Chair, " shall serve from the end of the Travel Retailing and Destination Expo in the year of his election until the end of the Travel Retailing and Destination Expo one year later, or until such time as his successor is elected and qualifies. The maximum number of one-year terms an ICPC Chair can serve is four years."

---| an amendment requiring all actions of the Executive Committee to be reported to the full Board of Directors within 10 business days.

Additionally the Board passed by a majority vote a Bylaws amendment to exclude from authority the Executive Committee's ability to enter into an employment contract with a chief staff officer without prior approval from the Board.

The Board also unanimously voted to approve signature of a letter in support of an "open door" tourism policy with Cuba and a motion authorizing ASTA to take certain actions to create a more balanced and equitable relationship between travel agents and the airlines.

During the course of the meeting , ASTA's Board and Chapter Presidents had the opportunity to meet personally with key tourism officials, namely Terestella Gonz'alez-Denton, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, and Hugh Riley, interim secretary general for the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO). Gonz'alez-Denton reviewed with ASTA officials the island's new strategic tourism marketing and development initiatives, while Riley held a frank discussion of the marketing efforts and initiatives of the CTO and Caribbean Hotel Association.

Also during the meeting, staff presented the Board with an in-depth look at the accomplishments of ASTA since the Board last met, as well as a review of key issues facing the retail travel market.

The mission of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is to facilitate the business of selling travel through effective representation, shared knowledge and the enhancement of professionalism. ASTA seeks a retail travel marketplace that is profitable and growing and a rewarding field in which to work, invest and do business.