Travelstart expands ITC offering

TRAVELSTART has
jumped on the
‘ticketing agent’
bandwagon, opening up
its booking management
system neXt, by removing
admin and ticketing fees.
The platform can now
be used by aspiring ITC
owners who have no prior
travel industry experience,
says neXt’s global sales
and marketing manager,
Mikha’il Ernest.
“We are now open to
anyone wanting to start
their own business. They
do not necessarily need to
have been an agent before
or have any experience
in a travel agency.”
Mikha’il said neXt’s
decision to cut its charges
was to attract young
entrepreneurs. “We will still
charge for cancellations
and amendments and there
are also airline penalties,
but we no longer have
admin or ticketing fees.”
He said the switch in
focus was a move to
empower entrepreneurship.
“That’s basically what
we are about now. We
are moving towards
empowering people that
want to start their own
businesses.”
ITC users have access to
all airline inventories and
can add their mark-up on
to the client’s quote. “Our
ITCs retain 100% of their
mark-up, are given access
to Travelstart’s negotiated
fares, and are supported by
the OTA’s Cape Town-based
technical team,” he said.
The platform is also
available to travel agents in
Kenya, Turkey, Nigeria and
Egypt, and will launch in
the UAE this month. Since
its launch in 2013, the
neXt user base had grown
to 3 531 in South Africa –
40% of whom had signed
up in the last eight months,
Mikha’il said.