Local travel trade opposes move to sell airline tickets in US
dollars
by Elmo Leonard
The local travel trade grouped together for the first time, to oppose
a move by airlines to sell tickets in Sri Lanka in US dollars, bypassing
the Sri Lanka Rupee. A section of airlines intends the move to come into
force, on October 1. Travails of such a move will dispense of travel
agent services and cut out traveller/agent companionship.
It will belittle the local rupee currency and mislead travellers, who
will end up paying far more than the quoted airline fare, the media was
told.
It is banana republics and inconspicuous economies which adopt the
dollar as the headline currency for travel ticketing, president, The
Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka (TAASL), Nihal Perera said.
Grouped together, and vocalised to fight tooth and nail to the finish,
are TAASL, Sri Lanka Association of Airline Representatives (SLAAR) and
IATA Agents Association (IATAA).
The local travel agents have a staff of 6000, sell 73,000 tickets,
with billings of Rs 2.4 billion per month, Perera said.
Airlines facing increasing competition with fares decreasing by 20
percent in five years, are trying to suck the blood of the travel trade
for survival, president, SLAAR Gerard Amerasinghe charged. But,
escalating fuel costs, are also bearing on the airlines industry.
While air fares fell 20 percent in five years, the Sri Lanka rupee
had decreased by 7 percent. Why don't the airlines increase fares by 5
percent, Amerasinghe queried?
Airline advertisements carry basic airfares to various destinations
from Colombo, to attract passengers, but, when fuel surcharges as per
airline and country taxes are added, the total fares payable by
passengers increase to over 50 percent of the advertised fee, president
IATAA, Dino de Fonseka said.
This will cause immense confusion among travellers, while poor
travellers, some seeking employment overseas, could be asked to pay the
difference within 14 days, leading to indebtedness on their part. The
poor traveller is most hit, being less educated and knowledgeable of
such situations, Fonseka said.
Fares quoted in US dollars are subject to constant change, not
represented in advertising.
The Board of Airlines Representatives (BAR) have made the move to use
dollars instead of SLR to purchase tickets. It was alleged that some of
their representatives spend just two years in Sri Lanka and do not care
about the repercussions of such a move on the Lankan rupee.
The proposal has been submitted to government through the Department
of Civil Aviation and Central Bank. The authority to defer such a
proposal is in the hands of the Department of Civil Aviation, the media
was told.
Travel agents sell the prospective traveller the choice of a few
products, meaning holidays with entertainment and lodging. But, airlines
are not travel agents and are not knowledged on extending services of
the traveller.
Travel agents, with its staff of 600, are like a supermarket with a
range of travel products, are not biased about the products they sell
giving the client a choice, while 85-90 percent of the bill, go as
revenue to airlines, it was claimed.
The use of credit cards on matters of travel, necessitates 2.5
percent interest, which airlines do not bear, but, ask the travel agent
to compensate.
Answering queries, Perera said that e-ticketing was not a
disadvantage for the travel trade, and from April next year, all
ticketing will be e-ticketing. |