ASTA VTA study plan

Define the advisor's fiduciary-style duties to the client and list five behaviors that breach them

Draft a personal code of conduct covering disclosure, confidentiality, and conflicts of interest

Identify the main regulatory bodies and consumer-protection rules that shape advisor conduct in your market

Explain the difference between negligence, misrepresentation, and fraud using original examples

Map the licensing, registration, and bonding requirements that apply to a retail travel agency where you operate

Summarize consumer-protection obligations around deposits, cancellations, and refunds

Compare supplier terms (airline, cruise, tour operator) for liability and chargeback exposure

Build a checklist of documents an agency must retain and for how long

Organize destination knowledge into regions and list the top-selling products in each

Describe passport, visa, health-entry, and transit rules for five major destination countries

Practice disclosing destination risks (health, safety, weather) to a client in plain language

Identify three supplier categories and the key selling points of each

Match client travel styles to suitable product types using a written decision framework

Draft discovery questions that uncover budget, mobility, and risk tolerance

Compare three itinerary options for a sample client and justify each recommendation

Explain fare rules, change penalties, and insurance options accurately to a hypothetical client

Write a sales conversation script that moves from discovery to close without pressure tactics

Handle five common objections (price, fear, timing, comparison shopping, distrust) with prepared responses

Design a post-trip follow-up sequence that generates referrals and repeat business

Calculate commission, markup, and service-fee models on three sample bookings

Build a simple agency budget covering fixed costs, variable costs, and break-even bookings

Compare business structures and their liability and tax implications at a high level

Draft client-facing terms and conditions covering payments, cancellations, and liability limits

Outline a data-protection practice for storing client personal and payment information

Design a client record system that tracks preferences, past trips, and consent

Create a segmentation scheme (value, frequency, trip type) and one action per segment

Draft a crisis-communication protocol for disruptions such as strikes, weather, or supplier failure

Role-play a complaint resolution from first contact to documented outcome

Review weak areas identified in earlier weeks and re-test each

Complete two full timed practice sets under exam conditions

Recite key definitions and rules for ethics, regulation, and operations from memory

Finalize a personal exam-day strategy covering pacing and question triage