IT’S time the travel industry
was regulated to ensure its
professionalism and credibility
through an officially recognised
industry body that can negotiate with
government on behalf of the trade,
industry experts say.
“I think the industry is realising
that regulation is an opportunity to
protect their businesses, whereas
before they might have perceived it
as a threat,” says Otto de Vries, ceo
of Asata, who was speaking on the
sidelines of the Asata conference,
which was held from May 20-22 in
Cape Town.
A hot topic at the conference was
government’s move to implement a
new ‘standard remuneration model’
that cuts all rebates and overrides
from suppliers to TMCs without
making provision for increased
service fees.
“One of the challenges we found
in our efforts to represent the sector
on policy discussions with National
Treasury is the position they’ve
taken on the travel industry not
being a regulated sector and, as a
result, they feel they do not have the
obligation to negotiate with us,” Otto
said.
Regulation of the industry would
imply firm-handling of those who
deviate from an established code of
conduct as well as a trading licence
that would be obtained on certain
conditions.
Currently the industry is selfregulated,
with Asata recognised
as an informal regulator. However,
Asata’s mandate only includes
members. This does not prevent
anyone outside of Asata from
operating unethically.
“Regulation would give an
association like Asata the teeth to
get rid of those that don’t comply,”
says Allan Lunz, md of BidTravel,
adding that it would clear the
industry of all the debates regarding
transparency and professionalism.
“Certain consortiums are
unfortunately operating unethically
as they are driving override revenue,
which in my books is ‘dirty revenue’
while not being prepared to take on
the risk and accountability that goes
with the relevant earnings,” says ceo
of eTravel, Garth Wolff. “Regulations
will force the directors of all agencies
to become truly accountable for every
rand that is processed through their
Iata licences.”
Legislation and a travel agent board
could also help the industry improve
on its equity and skills development
targets, particularly with regard to
training previously disadvantaged
individuals, says Wally Gaynor, md of
Club Travel. “This would attract new
entrants into the industry to reflect
the demographics of our country,” he
says.
The industry cannot be truly
regulated without the involvement of
government, an industry authority,
who would like to remain anonymous,
told TNW. “To be properly regulated
would necessitate the industry
to comply with government’s
requirements for regulation.
This, however, does not
mean government would
control the trade. An
independent body could
undertake the mandate
as long as it were to put
a proposal to government
outlining the merits and
justifications for doing so.”
Asata will be exploring the
implications of a regulated
industry and what this would
mean for the trade over
coming weeks. “We hope
to have a framework soon,”
says Otto. “We’d like to
move quite quickly on this
because we would like the
sector to make a decision
on whether they want us to
pursue this on their behalf
or not.”
