Training: Pacific Asia Travel Academy course / ATMA’s East Asia Specialists course
Each year about 200 agents study to become East Asia specialists by completing the Asia Travel Marketing Association’s (formerly East Asia Travel Association) training course, while 500 undertake studies with the Pacific Asia Travel Association. The ATMA’s East Asia course is a handwritten, correspondence course of 10 modules covering Thailand, Philippines, Macau, Taiwan and Japan, while the Pacific Asia course is a computer-based course of 10 modules covering 37 countries including Australasia.
We asked two travel agents who have completed both courses to explain the pros and cons. Stephen Kennedy is manager at Hadrian Travel, Prudhoe, Northumberland, and Gina Potts is a sales consultant at McLean Travel, Dumfries.
Provision of information
PATA
Stephen: “Everything is on disk so you can’t do the course on the bus but the disks become a superb on-screen database.”
Gina: “It is very easy to access the information so no thumbing through page after page hunting what you need.”
Asia TMA
Stephen: “You gather quite a substantial library of manuals, maps, guides and booklets which, if you have space to store them, can be useful to loan out to prospective clients.”
Gina: “Having lots of books means you need more time to read and research. I ended up taking them home with me.”
Depth of knowledge acquired
PATA
Stephen: “Pretty good on all the basic points you need to know.”
Gina: “Because you keep the disks you can click into the data anytime you need it so you have an easy way to get answers.”
Asia TMA
Stephen: “You get a real feel for the atmosphere and character of the countries as well as the basic facts.”
Gina: “This seemed more thorough but perhaps it is because you put more effort into it.”
Completing the modules
PATA
Stephen: “The modules are very quick and easy to work through. Straightforward but not terribly challenging.”
Gina: “Everything you need to complete the module is contained on the disk, so you never have to cross-refer or ring anyone for more information.”
Asia TMA
Stephen: “Personally, I am rather computer-phobic so I preferred this course. However, using books and handwriting the test but it is more time consuming and it helps a lot if you are really interested in the destination.”
Gina: “Questions can be quite complex and may require added research and phone calls.”
Value of the course
PATA
Stephen: “Very worthwhile, interesting and useful for the business.”
Gina: “Gives you a clear insight into a lot of destinations you may not know much about.”
Asia TMA
Stephen: “Helped establish the agency as an East Asia specialist. Financially beneficial for the business, personally very satisfying.”
Gina: “Informative with good on-going support – product updates, newsletters etc.”
Best features
PATA
Stephen: “Quick and easy to complete – the one to do if your boss is keeping you busy.”
Gina: “The fact it is computer based and you retain all the information on disk.”
Asia TMA
Stephen: “Prize incentives and the sense of achievement on completion.”
Gina: “Very in-depth knowledge and good follow-up support.”
Worst features
PATA
Stephen: “Less personal sense of achievement.”
Gina: “You do need to be sitting at a computer for the entire time you are working on the course so that makes it less flexible.”
Asia TMA
Stephen: “You can only move on to the next module when all your intake group is ready to do so – you work at the pace of the slowest.”
Gina: “It’s a lot more expensive (£99 compared to PATA’s £41) – but if the office is paying that won’t be a problem.”
Tests and accreditation
PATA
Stephen: “The computer marks each test and you fax a print-out of it to PATA to confirm you can move on to the next module, so you could cheat.”
Gina: “Testing yourself means you can reread any module and retake the test. You can’t fail because you don’t fax through until you’ve passed!”
Asia TMA
Stephen: “You post off your tests and results are published in a league table with other current students – this appealed to my competitive nature.”
Gina: “The testing process takes time because you have to wait for each test to be marked and the results are back to you so you don’t know instantly how well you are doing.”