The Midlands Co-operative Society is the latest ABTA member to join the Accredited Travel Professional Scheme (ATP). The continuous professional development scheme will be offered to all of the Society's 800 employees who have successfully completed a minimum service of three months.

Ken Smith, General Manager of Midlands Co-op Travel said: We are thrilled to be able to offer ATP to our colleagues.  We believe in ongoing professional development and ATP is a great way to reward and recognise our highly professional teams.

PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) UK Chapter have had their online training courses accredited by ATP. Ian Hawkes, Executive Director of PATA UK Chapter said: We are pleased that our training has been mapped onto the ATP scheme and that travel professionals completing our training can include this as part of the Accredited Travel Professional Scheme. The scheme recognises and encourages ongoing professional development, something we, at PATA UK Chapter, have always encouraged.

Go to www.patacacdemy.com to see the training. PATA UK Chapter is free to UK Retail Travel Agents. You can sign up at www.pata.org.uk.

Online Travel Training are fast approaching their 20,000th member. To celebrate this milestone they are running a special refer-a-friend competiton in association with EVA Air & ATP.

You can win a pair of tickets to Bangkok on Eva Air. There are also 10 free memberships to ATP to be won and a bottle of bubbly. For more information see the OTT website by clicking here.

Vicki Wolf from ABTA/ATP will be attending the ACE UK Cruise Convention in Dover this week where we will be announcing some very exciting news.

Vicki will be on stand number 1 at the Trade Fair and will be happy to talk to you.  ACE members who are also ATP members are reminded to collect their points for attending the ACE Convention.

Members are entitled to 2 points for attending the ACE Convention.

Finish The Travel Foundation and ABTA's interactive on-line quiz http://www.maketravelgreener.com/ - it'll make you a bit of an expert on all things green in just 30 minutes!

The quiz is an easy and fun way for you to understand what sustainable tourism is all about and it also gives you 3 ATP points towards your professional development. Every month anyone getting over 95% in the quiz will be entered in to a prize draw and three lucky winners will receive a fair trade hamper and a maketravelgreener.com mug. Go on, have a go now and see how you score ...

To find out more about The Travel Foundation and its work, please visit www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk.

If you attended the ITT Conference in Dubai last week you should remember to log your CPD points.

You can claim two points for attending the Conference.

ATP members who go on maternity leave should note that their ATP membership can be suspended until you come back- just remember to let us know. This means that you'll keep the points you've earned up until you leave and you won't have to pay to renew your membership. We'll freeze your membership until the end of your leave. 

However, we won't freeze your access to the ATP benefits so don't forget that with your ATP People Value benefits you get 15% off at Everyday Maternity, 10% off at Babyworld.com, 10% off at Truely Madly Baby, as well as all the other great savings at supermarkets and other stores that will make welcoming your new addition just that little bit easier.

If you would like to win a bottle of bubbly tell us about any training you have done or any industy events, FAM trips or seminars that you have attended that have impressed you and you're name will be entered in our monthly draw.

Just email your 250 words to Sally Oakey at Travel Uni on sally.oakey@bmipublications.com. 

The closing date is 12 July.

ABTA has two seminars coming up in the next few weeks. The first is a Crisis Management Seminar - Defusing a crisis which is taking place on 23 June 2009 from 09.30 to 16.30 in Manchester. The seminar will be held at the Malmaison Hotel, Manchester.

The second event, on 7 July from 09.30 to 16.30 is a beginner's guide to health and safety - making safety simple. This takes place at ABTA's offices in London.

ATP members are reminded that they can save 10% on the price of attending these seminars and as ATP membership is only £25 per year this can represent a significant saving. For more information go to www.abta.com/events or contact Julie Graves or Mark McDonald by emailing them on events@abta.co.uk. You can also telephone on : 020 3117 0550 or 020 3117 0551.