TORONTO — With the ouster of Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole, a lot of ACITA’s upcoming meetings with federal MPs may have to be rescheduled – but not to worry, this is an organization that’s used to overcoming hurdles.

“Interesting times, for sure!” said ACITA co-founder Judith Coates as she relayed the news to Travelweek.

ACITA’s new logo debuted earlier this week, along with a new mission statement: ‘Advocating for positive change in the travel industry by giving a voice to independent travel advisors.”

ACITA’s full schedule for these early months of 2022 includes not just MP meetings but also work on a new e-Petition asking the federal government to remove in-destination, pre-arrival PCR testing. Details are coming soon, says Coates.

“We feel that mandatory testing for the return to Canada is the single biggest deterrent to the recovery of Canada’s international travel industry,” she says.

Pre-arrival PCR testing is one of many must-do’s currently for Canadian travellers, along with on-arrival testing, the target of many industry groups and editorials calling for its elimination.

ACITA has also endorsed ACTA’s recent proposal for the ITARP (Independent Travel Advisor Recovery Program). ACTA presented ITARP to Minister of Tourism Randy Boissonnault in early January. Coates says it could be several weeks until there’s an ITARP update: “We probably won’t hear anything back about that until March at the earliest.”