THE Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) is giving its members access to over 250 courses to help them upskill during down time.
The online Education and Training suite will debut this month with an initial 60 short, sharp, high impact courses called Micro-Credentials.
Launched in partnership with AFTA’s online digital resource partner Learning Vault, each course will be aligned to a training unit within a Vocational Education and Training (VET) nationally recognised qualification — including Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas in Travel and Tourism, Leadership and Management and Business Management.
The topics are predominately focused on supervisory, managerial, and owner-operator business skills such as leading with emotional intelligence, social media marketing, coaching, mentoring, and working and managing remotely.
As they are developed, further courses will be uploaded, with the Federation anticipating the platform will reach 250 courses.
Members have the freedom to choose which topics are of the most interest and relevant to their business and needs.
Once a member completes a course, they will receive an AFTA-endorsed digital badge (or certification) which can then be used on CVs, and social media platforms such as LinkedIn.
AFTA Acting General Manager, Operations, Courtney Duddleston told travelBulletin that during COVID-19, the Federation had “been looking at innovative ways to empower the travel industry workforce to build on and build further capability in best business practice.
“We believe business skills and capabilities are critical to the continued success of AFTA members, both now and post COVID-19,” she said.
Each course will be “the cost of a lunch”, and the Federation and Learning Vault will not generate revenue or margins with the offering.
“The cost of each course only covers initial outlay or costs and is merely a recovery cost,” Duddleston said.
AFTA highlighted that “a unique opportunity exists for all AFTA businesses and their staff (including those who have been stood down or on adjusted work hours) to learn new skills that can assist to provide the competitive edge when the market rebounds”.
The launch follows AFTA ramping up its webinar program in March to help its members feel supported, informed and connected through COVID-19.
This saw the Federation deliver a total of 53 webinars and engage with over 10,000 travel agent members.
