The Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) has announced a new National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA) category recognising the highest-performing travel advisers on the award-winning CATO Touring Academy.
The new CATO Touring Academy Top Learner category will celebrate travel advisers who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to professional development and touring knowledge through their ongoing engagement with the Academy.
“We see thousands of course completions across the platform, but these agents have consistently gone above and beyond,” ATIA Director of CATO and Education, Mira Yates, said.
“They continue to engage with our content, complete new training and build their knowledge across the touring sector throughout the year.
“It is fantastic to now be able to recognise that commitment on the NTIA stage and celebrate the advisers who are leading the way.”
The CATO Touring Academy has grown to become a key training platform for the touring sector, with more than 3,000 active learners completing training across touring fundamentals, destinations and leading tour operator brands.
Rather than recognising performance at a single point in time, the new NTIA category reflects sustained engagement with the platform, with finalists determined based on learner performance across the monthly CATO Touring Academy leaderboard.
The CATO Touring Academy finalists are:
Zoe Hannaford — VIC
Danielle Cameron — QLD
Robert Fletcher — QLD
Brett Atkinson — VIC
Amy Mudge — QLD
The CATO Touring Academy was named Most Outstanding Travel Industry Training Program at the 2025 National Travel Industry Awards and continues to expand its training offering across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
“One of the most exciting outcomes of bringing CATO and ATIA together is the opportunity to take successful CATO initiatives and give them an even greater platform across the broader travel industry,” ATIA CEO Dean Long said.
“Recognising the CATO Touring Academy’s leading learners at the NTIAs is a great example of that in action. It brings together CATO’s strong focus on touring education with ATIA’s industry-wide recognition platform and, most importantly, puts the spotlight on the travel advisers investing in their professional development.”
The inaugural CATO Touring Academy Top Learner will be announced at the 2026 National Travel Industry Awards on Saturday, 10 October, in Melbourne.
