The Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agents of the Czech Republic

ACCKA AND ECTAA

In July 2005 ACCKA became a regular member of prestigious European association ECTAA, which unites national associations of tour operators and travel agents in EU.

In July 2005 ACCKA became a regular member of prestigious European association ECTAA, which unites national associations of tour operators and travel agents in EU. ECTAA was founded in 1961 at Bad Kreuznach (Federal Republic of Germany) by the national associations of travel agents and tour operators of the 6 founding Member States of the Common Market.

ECTAA now represents the national associations of travel agents and tour operators of 27 EU Member States (only Luxembourg has not the representation), of 2 EU accession countries (Serbia and Montenegro) as well Switzerland and Norway. ECTAA represents in total more than 80,000 European entities dealing with outgoing or incoming activities, with an estimated turnover of over 60 billion EUR.

ECTAA is recognised in Brussels by industry and decision-makers alike as the main representation of both Travel Agents and Tour Operators and is an esteemed consultation partner on any policy that may have an impact on Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ activities. ECTAA cooperates closely with each of the European Institutions and monitors every development at European level, which may have an impact on tourism. ECTAA also represents the interests of Travel Agents and Tour Operators when dealing with other organizations that have an impact on this industry in Europe, such as The European and International standardisation bodies (CEN, ISO), The International Air Transport Association (IATA) or The World Tourism Organisation (WTO).

ECTAA issues an annual Activity Report, which summarizes all the main activities in the past year in the areas of interest to ECTAA. A number of technical committees has been established, which are composed of representatives of national delegations of Full Members, who have a specific expertise in the issues that are dealt with by the committee concerned. Those committees are The Air Matters Committee, The Legal Committee, The Fiscal Committee, The Technology Committee, The Tour Operators Committee, The Incoming, Destination & Sustainability Committee.

Thanks to the membership in ECTAA, ACCKA receives current information and has the opportunity to participate in commenting on EU legislation in tourism. Except the interesting and valuable information about all developments in European affairs, ACCKA receives opinions and practical examples from other European countries on the basis of questionnaires, organized by secretariat of ECTAA. It also provides to its members legal analysis and consultation on discussed topics bearing on travel agents’ and tour operators' businesses.

ACCKA is one of the active members of ECTAA. The ACCKA´s representative Roman Skrabanek held in the term 2006-2008 the office of Vice president of ECTAA, in 2008-2010 the current ACCKA´s president was elected as a member of the Board of ECTAA (Strategic Committee), which controls directly the operations of the association. Mr Roman Skrabanek held an important office of the ECTAA´s economist. For the period 2010-2012 Roman Skrabanek was re-elected as Vice President of ECTAA and for the years 2012-2014 and 2014-2016 he was elected to the expert group, which solves tax issues at EU level.

ECTAA - Group of National Travel Agents´and Tour Operators´ Associations within the EU

Rue Dautzenberg 36-38, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium, www.ectaa.org

30.12.2014