About CCTO…

 

The California Coalition of Travel Organizations (CCTO) is a nonprofit state government relations coalition of national, state and regional associations and consortiums of travel agents and tour operators.

CCTO member organizations include individual California chapters of the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), as well as United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA), Student Youth Travel Association, Signature Travel Network, WESTA, Ensemble, Professional Association of Travel Hosts (PATH), Travel Leaders Network, and Virtuoso.

CCTO has been actively lobbying in the State Capitol since its formation in 1987 and sponsored the legislation enacted in 1995 that established California’s Seller of Travel Law (SOT) and its landmark Travel Consumer Restitution Fund (TCRC).

 

Focusing on advocacy, CCTO has worked successfully to:

• Obtain an amendment to AB 5, exempting independent travel advisors from the Dynamex decision.
• Sponsor the California Seller of Travel Law which protects consumers by way of a unique Travel Consumer Restitution Fund which is wholly funded by the travel industry.
• Prevent the state from competing as a travel agent.
• Prevent travel agents from being annually assessed hundreds of dollars per million dollars in gross revenue.
• Deter frivolous lawsuits against individual travel agents and tour operators filed by lawyers on behalf of bogus consumers.
• Ensure state budget crises do not target our industry for new taxes and fees.
• Accomplish additional efficiencies in the administration of the travel consumer restitution fund.
• Prevent a mandate that state employees shop online and limit travel agent use.
• Sponsor legislation to save each travel agent and tour operator from a requirement to obtain an expensive bond.
• Eliminated cart fees at the International Terminal at LAX.

CCTO maintains working relationships with state elected officials, regulators, legislators and others. CCTO engages with a professional legislative advocate, a grassroots lobbying program, and the support of our member organizations. Jerry Desmond Jr., Esq., with the California government relations firm Desmond & Desmond LLC, has represented CCTO since its inception in 1987.