TICO Education Standards for Ontario Travel Counsellors and Supervisor/Managers25

registration number. Residential phone numbers should not be included in written representations.

Oral representations – Oral representations (for example, a sales presentation) do not have to include the registrant’s business name, address, and registration number.

Social media – All social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Blog sites, to name just a few, are also subject to the representation provisions. The main page or home page must display the business name, address, and TICO registration number.

4.2 Time and Space Limitations

A representation displayed on a billboard or bus board or made through any other medium with similar time or space limitations is not required to include a registrant’s business name, address, and registration number.

An example of a time and space limitation can be found on a billboard that you might see on a highway or on a bus board (which is usually an advertisement on a bus or at a bus shelter). In these cases, consumers are driving or walking by the sign, often in a matter of seconds, so they need to be able to read and absorb the information quickly. The wording on the sign should therefore be quite large and only key phrases can be mentioned.

TICO considers Facebook post messages or status updates as well as “tweets” and similar postings as limited space mediums, which do not need to include a registrant’s business name, address, and registration number. However, the main pages or home pages of those sites must meet the representation requirements. TICO requires that all minimum requirements must be available within one click. As a best practice, TICO recommends that the TICO logo be visible on the main page or home page, and all minimum requirements should be available within one click.

NOTE: Registrants should not assume that something is a limited medium unless TICO has specifically stated that the medium has time or space limitations.

Section 33 of the Regulation

For all forms of representation, any statement made about price must be clear, comprehensible, and prominent. The intent is that consumers should know exactly what their travel services will cost.

Any representation that refers to a price shall set out the total amount that the customer will be required to pay for the travel services, including all fees, levies, service charges, surcharges, taxes, and other charges. In other words, “all-in” pricing is required.

Retail sales tax or federal goods and services tax must be included in the total price. Registrants that charge counselling fees or service charges must include those amounts in the total price.

The goal is to ensure that consumers know exactly what they will be required to pay for travel services and to make it easier for consumers to compare prices. The rule also helps to ensure