Guide · Travel agencies

What a travel
site must show.

Travel agencies in Ontario advertise under the Travel Industry Act, 2002 and its General regulation, enforced by the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO). The rules are short and specific, and a few of them, like the ban on showing a previous price, catch out sites built from templates made for other provinces. Here is what applies as of November 2026.

Published 2026-11-04 · Formory Marketing Group

Sections 31 to 35 of O. Reg. 26/05 set the advertising rules; section 28 of the Travel Industry Act, 2002 bans false, misleading or deceptive advertising, and section 29 lets the registrar order an ad withdrawn or corrected. Amendments passed in 2017 would replace "travel agent" with "travel seller" and "travel salesperson", but they are still not in force, so the current terms apply.

TICO's Advertising Guidelines, last revised March 2022 and still the version TICO publishes, say the rules apply to every representation, including websites, social media pages, Google and Facebook ads, pay-per-click ads and email newsletters.

Section 31(2) requires any representation that is not oral to include the name under which you carry on business, your address and your registration number, and forbids a residential phone number. Billboards and similar limited-space media are exempt from the first part. TICO allows a cell number only alongside your main business number.

Section 9 limits you to the name on your registration or a name registered under the Business Names Act, and only after the registrar has acknowledged your notice of it. A name may not suggest a sponsorship, approval or affiliation you do not have.

For social media, TICO treats individual posts, stories and reels as limited-space, so each one does not need the full details, but the profile, About or Bio area must carry them. Its Website & Social Media Checklist adds that your website address must be on your TICO registration record. The TICO logo is optional and does not replace the number.

Section 4(1) of the Act says no person may act, or hold themselves out as available to act, as a travel agent unless registered. The Act defines a travel agent as someone who sells to consumers travel services provided by another person, so a page offering to book other companies' trips is holding out, whatever it calls itself.

Section 2 of the regulation exempts some businesses, such as hotels selling local extras, sellers of one-day tours and guide or sightseeing services in Ontario, if they do not otherwise act as travel agents. Under section 12, a registered agency's staff and contractors may sell only if they hold TICO's travel counsellor certification or meet the regulation's other conditions.

TICO's Outside Sales Representative Guidelines cover home-based, independent and virtual advisors. They are not registered themselves and sell only through a registered host agency, which is responsible for them. An advisor may brand only under a trade name registered to the host, and a branded web address counts as a trade name. Every advisor's website must be on the host's TICO record.

The advisor's website and social pages must show the host agency's registered name, business address, phone number and TICO registration number. A phone number must be a mobile, never a home line, and the host's main number must appear too. Because the address is the host's, TICO suggests a line such as "Serving the London area". Signs or marketing at the advisor's home are not allowed unless it is a registered branch, and when the contract ends the host must remove the advisor's ads.

Under section 33, any price must be the total the customer pays, including all fees, levies, service charges, surcharges and taxes, shown clearly and prominently. The ad must state any conditions limiting the price, describe the trip reasonably and say that further information is available from a travel agent. The price must be available for the period of the ad and in Canadian dollars unless another currency is clearly stated.

Section 33(6) is blunt: a representation shall not refer to a previous price. Strike-through fares and "was $2,499" badges are out. TICO adds that your own service fees belong in the price, that a "from" price must show what it depends on, such as room type and date, and that mandatory fees paid at the destination may sit outside the price if they are in your terms. Where prices vary across dates, TICO wants a "from" and a "to" price with the date range. Online, the extra details may be one click away; the all-in price may not.

TICO also says tiny or illegible text tucked into the border or the bottom of an ad does not pass the clear, comprehensible and prominent test. On a fare grid or a deal card, the total and its conditions should be readable at the size a phone shows them.

A written ad for a specific trip must include, under section 34, deposit and final payment terms, the total price, cancellation terms and charges, the availability and cost of trip cancellation and out-of-province health insurance, the refund policy, the carrier, class of service, departure and arrival points, accommodation details, any construction or renovation, and the period the offer applies to.

Section 35 requires photos to show the actual thing and be identified as photographs; an illustration must say it is not a photograph. If your site takes bookings, TICO's checklist expects customers to accept your terms before booking and, for travel outside Canada, to see travel document information before paying.

An online-only agency follows the same rules. Section 10 requires a permanent place of business in Ontario, and running it from a home is allowed only with municipal zoning proof, a listed business number separate from any residential number, and records access the registrar accepts.

TICO's guidelines say only customers who book through TICO-registered agencies or websites are protected by the Ontario Travel Industry Compensation Fund, which TICO describes as reimbursing money paid for travel services not provided because an Ontario registrant, or an airline or cruise line supplier, went bankrupt or insolvent. TICO recommends its logo for exactly this reason, so customers can see you are registered. Describe the Fund in those terms; overstating what it covers would be a misleading representation under section 32.

Put your registered business name, address, phone number and TICO number in every page's footer and on your social profiles. All-in prices with conditions next to them, no previous prices, trip pages with the full section 34 details, and labelled photos. Our notes on websites for travel agencies cover the rest.

This is a plain summary of the Travel Industry Act, 2002, O. Reg. 26/05 and TICO guidance as of November 2026, not legal advice; TICO's Compliance Department will review an ad before you publish it.

• O. Reg. 26/05 (General) under the Travel Industry Act, 2002 — sections 2, 9, 10, 12 and 31 to 35
• Travel Industry Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sched. D — sections 1, 4, 28 and 29
• TICO — Advertising Guidelines (last revised March 2022)
• TICO — Website & Social Media Checklist (last revised August 2023)
• TICO — Advertising Checklist (last revised March 2022)
• TICO — Outside Sales Representative Guidelines for Travel Agency Owners (last revised March 2022)
• TICO — The Ontario Travel Industry Compensation Fund, overview
• TICO — Advertising Requirements

Or call (416) 989-3208. One of us answers; there is no sales team.

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