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Mumbai, Chennai, Aug 13: The announcement of zero commission to Indian travel agents by the airlines (domestic and international) has not gone well with the travel agent fraternity who will be going on a token strike today to demonstrate their concern and unity regarding the issue. Major associations, including Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) and IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) have over 3,000 accredited agents and 50,000 sub-agents under their belt.
“We are not against the zero commission structure but what we are asking for is time. There will be radical changes in our business model and we need time to train our workforce and spread the word among the customers,” said Shubhada Joshi, honorary secretary general, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). She added that the airlines have agreed to meet the agents today but that will not defer their plans of going on strike.
“We want an India specific solution,” she said, adding that valuable manpower will be lost if the things are done in a hurry. The agents are asking for further extension of the implementation of the zero commission from earlier extended November 1, 2008 to May 1, 2009. The travel agents had submitted a memorandum of demands to the airlines on the July 24, 2008 and the latter was supposed to react to the recommendations within two weeks. Since the agents did not receive any communication from the airlines even after three weeks except for the extension of the implementation of zero commission, lead to uncertainty in the minds of the agents and decision of going on a token strike. “The zero commission structure will lead to 73% drop in the income of the travel agents and in turn leading to customers shelling out more money for the same ticket who will charge a service fee,” she said. The annual business is estimated to be around Rs 26,000 crore, of which nearly Rs 19,000 crore comes from sale of overseas tickets sale. And over 80% of the travel tickets in India are booked through travel agents. The online travel agents (OTAs) including Cleartrip.com, Yatra Online Pvt Ltd and Travelguru have already expressed intention to charge a service fee from their customers. Recently on the issue, Stuart Crighton, founder and chief executive officer, Cleartrip.com has expressed concerns over the changes that will set in the commercial relationship between OTAs and the airlines.
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