Travel Counsellor Certification

The mark of excellence

Introduction

Travel Counsellor Certification is based on an individual’s ability to perform the knowledge and performance tasks required to meet travel industry expectations for employment. These tasks are defined in the Occupational Standards for Travel Counselling that were developed in conjunction with the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) using the emerit™ brand.

The Occupational Standards are broken down into 4 major categories – each of which identifies general activities within the occupation. These categories are:

• Professionalism
• Administration
• Sales & Customer Service
• Travel Product

Steps to Travel Counsellor Certification:

• Complete the certification enrollment form.
  
  – If you are paying by credit card you may submit payment electronically
  
  – Certified cheque or money order must be submitted with enrollment form.

Study Guide

The Study Guide is your key to success, it will help you focus on what you need to know. Having the skills, knowledge and attitudes defined in the Guide means you have met the standards set by professionals in the travel industry. Each module of the Guide contains the following:

• introduction – general description of topics
• pre-check of skills – determine how familiar you are with topics
• national occupational standards related to the module
• learning objectives – outlines the knowledge or skills covered in the module
• module content – divided into topics
• activities – to review and test your knowledge
• on your own – self-directed exercises for additional review
• real experiences – a scenario followed by a set of questions covering the module
• answer key – to all activities
• performance checklist – rate yourself on your knowledge and experience of this module

Enrolment Fees:

• The certification enrolment fee is a one-time charge and is valid for the period of time it takes you to complete the certification process.
  
  Suggested time frame to complete the process is 1 to 3 years


• During this time period you will automatically qualify for CITC general member benefits  such as member registration fees for training products and be placed on our email communication list receiving CITC’s monthly e-newsletter “The Buzz”.
• Enrolment Fee (No Study Guide) $75.00
• Enrolment Package including Study Guide $100.00

General Details

• Supervised (proctored) setting
• 100 multiple choice questions (see assessment criteria  for more detail)
  – 2% on Section A: Professionalism
  – 13% on Section B: Administration
  – 17% on Section C: Sales & Customer Service
  – 68% on Section D: Travel Products
• You have 120 minutes to complete the test.

What to expect on the Knowledge Exam

Examples include:
  – destination information (map work)
  – definitions
  – general travel product
  – reading & interpreting product information
  – price calculations

When and Where Can You Write the Exam?

• Available online or paper based

Online Exams

• Exams can be scheduled on any day as long as the registration and proctor application forms are submitted at least 2 weeks prior to the exam date being requested. Please note there will not be any techincal support available for exams scheduled byond business hours.
• If you attend a CITC Endorsed Travel Program, your school may offer this test as an “exam on demand,” please check with your instructor.

Paper Based Exams

• Paper based exams can only be written on the set montly exam sitting dates. Registration and proctor application forms must be submitted by the registration deadline dates listed. For scheduled exam dates click here.

Who Qualifies to Proctor the Exam?

• Proctor application form and guidelines .
• All proctors must be approved by CITC.
• Proctor forms must be submitted with exam registration
• Candidates are required to complete the proctor form and submit it to CITC, a minimum of 14 days prior to the exam date. The only exception to this requirement is for students who are writing at their travel program as an exam on demand – where the instructor has already set up the exam arrangements

Passing the Knowledge Exam

• All online exams are computer scored and verified.
• Pen & Paper exams are marked by Scantron
• Scores within a few points of the passing mark are automatically verified and hand scored for accuracy.

How Does CITC Determine The Exam Pass Mark?

Each exam has a unique passing score. This is because exams are created by assembling a random group of questions from a larger bank of questions. Each question has been reviewed and rated by an expert industry committee to determine how difficult the question is and how likely a travel counsellor is to select the correct answer.

The easier the question, it is expected that a higher percentage of people will select the correct answer. Therefore, each question on the exam has its own level of difficulty and expected % pass rate assigned. Once all the exam questions are determined for the specific test form then the individual question pass rates are averaged and the overall exam pass % is determined for that test form. This is called the examination standard. Since each exam will be made up of a different mix of questions the passing score of each form will vary. Typically the passing score will range from 74 to 76%.

What is the Exam Pass Mark?

If your score is higher than or equal to the exam standard, you will be assigned a pass result; if your score is lower than the standard, you will be assigned a fail result.

Why Is The Pass Mark Kept Confidential?

Each exam form has a different exam standard (% pass rate) so that all candidates are treated equally in terms of an exam level of difficulty. Therefore the actual pass mark has no specific bearing other than to determine if the requirement of passing the exam has been met or not met (in the case of a fail). A report of the pass mark would be of no significance since it could not be compared to results from another exam form.

What Happens If You Fail The Exam?

• You may re-write the exam as often as needed
• A re-write fee will apply of $ 75 + GST or HST
• Candidates have the right to appeal exam scores. A request to appeal the exam score must be sent to CITC within 30 days after receiving the exam results.

Do you need to be enrolled for certification in order to write the Knowledge Exam?

No. You have the option to enroll at a later date when you are ready to complete full certification. However, we encourage all candidates to set a goal to complete all stes to certification.

Knowledge Exam Prep Materials

• The Study Guide to certification outlines the skills in the occupational standard. You may use the guide to identify areas you may not have been exposed to and attempt to gain more knowledge and/or experience in those areas. It may be purchased as a separate item for $ 75 + GST or if you have already enrolled for travel counsellor certifation it may be included in your certification pacakge.
   
• A Prep Guide provides information on how to write a multiple choice exam and includes 25 sample questions.  Fee $ 15 + GST or HST
   
• A Practice Exam is available.  Fee $ 15 + GST or HST
   
• To order Knowledge Exam Prep Material, click here.

• A 10-question sample of an online exam is available free of charge.  While the questions are generic for any type of test – it does give candidates who are writing online an opportunity to experience how an online test works. For sample test click here
• .
• CITC holds monthly Pre Webinars for the CTC Program. Click here for the schedule and Sign Up.

Knowledge Exam Prices

Knowledge Exam Registration:

• Required: 1000 hours
• Must be relevant, recent travel industry experience (within 5 years) that relates to the skills as defined in the occupational standards. If you are unsure if your work experience is relevant refer to the occupational standards and/or Study Guide .
• Candidates must supply acceptable records as proof that this requirement has been met.
• Proof of experience may include: pay slips / Record of Employments (ROEs), letters of employment.

Reducing the Occupational Experience Requirement

• If you attended an Endorsed Travel Program that included a Practicum (100 hour +) and are able to submit your practicum report, you may apply for a 50 hour reduction in Experience hours.
  
  Complete the Exemption Request Form .
• If you have completed any supplier-based training that holds CITC Approval Credits, these credits may be converted into hours and used to reduce your occupational experience by 50 hours.
  
  Complete the Exemption Request Form .

Verification of Occupational Experience

• CITC will review the proof you provide to determine if it is acceptable and considered relevant.
• The fee to process this requirement is included with the cost of the Performance Evaluation.

The checklist of skills is completed by your employer and identifies how well you perfrom certain tasks relating to, for example: professional dress,compliance with legal obligations to your client or business ethics adn code of conduct

• Completed / verified with a manager in a “sign off sheet”
• See assessment criteria for a list of the skills assessed using this method
• Submitted for verification when ordering the Performance Evaluation

General Information:

The performance evaluation is a test of your skill on the job. The evaluation observes a selected range of skills primarily dealing with sales & communication. There are several forms of evaluation available including:

– in person observation,
– telephone observation,
– review of recorded telephone conversations or internet transactions,
– structured interview

The most significant part of this evaluation is its ability to be customized due to the fact it is a one-on-one assessment. This means for candidates who specialize in particular products/services or niche markets, corporate or cruise sales etc., that the evaluation is easily customized to reflect a typical sales experience.

How to order the Performance Evaluation?

• To order a Performance Evaluation you must complete the
  “Request Form”  and pay the required fee.

Who Are the Performance Evaluators?

CITC has hired and trained industry evaluators across Canada using a specific process to ensure standard evaluation methods are used and recorded.

Evaluation Criterias

The list of occupational standards that are evaluated in the performance evaluation includes:

• Demonstrate professional behaviour
• Communicate effectively
• Create relationship with client
• Determine client needs
• Recommend travel products
• Bookings for traveller’s with special needs
• Overcome objections
• Close the sale
• Provide destination product info
• Define travel insurance terms

The candidate must achieve a pass on 9 of the 12 sections being assessed.

What Happens if You Fail?

• You may apply for an evaluation as often as needed
• A re-evaluation fee will apply of $ 125 + GST or HST
• Candidates have the right to appeal evaluation scores. A request to appeal the score must be sent to CITC within 30 days after receiving the Performance Evaluation results.

CITC Certification Webinars

CITC offers regular webinar sessions to help Certified Travel Counsellor candidates prepare for success on the Knowledge Exam and Performance Evaluations.

Webinars will be held throughout the year with each session lasting approximately one hour and content will include:

• Overview of the certification process
• What to expect on the Knowledge Exam
• Using the Study Guide to target exam preparation
• Multiple choice exam strategies
• Time management for exam preparation
• Sample Knowledge Exam questions
• Explanation of the Workplace performance evaluation process
• Clarification of the skills that evaluators are looking for in the Mystery Shop
• Clarification of how to obtain the required work experience hours

For upcoming webinar dates and registration, please click here..

Fee to attend this presentation is $ 25 + GST/HST

In order to use your designation you are required to be a member of CITC as the professional association, since using the designation is a privilege of membership. This membership is subject to renewal on an annual basis.

For more information on CITC membership – please consult the membership services area of the CITC website.