WHILE visa acquisition
companies struggle against
competition from visa
application centres to prove
the value of their service,
travel agents are swooping in
to fill the gap – and earn some
extra cash.
Visa acquisition service
company, ROSE (Republic of
Service Excellence) terminated
its Schengen visa meet-andassist
services on April 1.
Md, Jan Schavemaker, said
the request for information on
the Schengen visa process
was taking up most of the
company’s resources and
time but was not bringing in
any revenue “as only the visa
submission centres reap the
rewards”. “It’s like a traveller
asking the travel agent for
all the information about a
complicated round-the-world
trip and then going home
and booking the whole thing
online.”
Jaco Badenhorst, md of Visa
Request, says he has had
numerous problems with staff
at visa submission centres
badmouthing visa service
companies in front of clients.
He says because of this, the
visa service business has
become a “dying business”.
Last year, Jaco lodged a
complaint at the Competition
Commission, stating that
visa application centres such
as VFS Global were creating
a monopoly in the market,
leading to inflated prices and
bad service. The Competition
Commission dismissed the
complaint saying they could
not intervene when it came
to the choices of foreign
governments (see TNW
July 9, 2014).
The withdrawal of these
services will not necessarily
have a negative impact, says
Russel Jarvis, Travelstart
spokesperson. He says
there seems to be bad
blood between visa service
centres and visa application
centres because these
companies are competing
on similarly styled add-on
services, including application
submission, courier service,
express applications and SMS
services.
“It’s in the interest of both
parties to berate each other’s
services to paint their offering
in a more favourable light.
“The officially appointed
application centres, such as
Capago, for French and Italian
visas have, for as long as
they've been around, been
the safer option because they
are the validated service,”
he says, adding that the
main challenge will be for
these centres to ensure their
offering is kept up to date.
Inge Beadle, manager of
Corporate Travel Services,
predicts that, with the
cancellation of these services,
clients will turn to their travel
agent for assistance before
heading to the application
offices “where they often
are not able to obtain the
necessary information”.
Worth the trouble
This is a lucrative opportunity
for travel agents, says
Rachael Penaluna, business
manager of Sure Maritime
Travel, which has started
offering online visas as an
additional service. “It is
time consuming but if it is
managed and charged for
properly, it’s really worth it,”
she says.
Besides helping travellers
with online applications, Sure
Maritime also packages visa
services with flights from
Port Elizabeth to Cape Town
or Johannesburg, depending
on where the Consulate
is situated, including
accommodation and transfers.
“It is a very lucrative valueadd,”
she says.
Dinesh Naidoo, group
operations director for
Serendipity Worldwide
Group (SWG), has helped
launch SVS International,
a visa acquisition service
consultancy.
SVS International assists
travellers and travel agents
to obtain visas by providing
them with application forms,
check lists and by fixing
appointments. The company
also assists with payment and
visa application submission,
collection and delivery, where
possible.
SVS International offers
special reduced service fees
for travel agents. “Agents can
log on to the SVS website
and apply for a visa for their
clients. We offer them the
same service as our own
clients but we also allow
travel agents to earn a
commission by providing them
with special prices,” says
Dinesh.
SVS International opened a
head office in Durban at the
beginning of March as well
as a Johannesburg branch
on March 31. A Cape Town
branch is on the cards in
coming weeks.
