IAAI To Host First Annual Convention In August 2004

Charmaine Fernz - Mumbai

The first annual convention for the IATA Agents Association of India, ICON 2004 to be held from August 27-29, 2004 at Kochi aims to resolve numerous pertinent industry issues. With present membership strength of 268 from all over India and the future target set at 300 plus by the time of the national convention, the association has firm goals for the industry. In an exclusive with Express Travel & Tourism, Biji Eapen, president, IAAI revealed that, “The theme for the convention - ‘India - The Destination of the 21st Century’ - has been carefully thought out. One needs to realise that tourism has been identified but is yet to be declared as an industry in India. Hence, it is very important for each and every member of the travel fraternity to work together to promote tourism as an industry by way of adopting new technologies and professional management approaches. In order to achieve this goal, there should be a substantial increase in the quality as well as quantity of services offered by the travel industry. We at IAAI, feels that the common platforms of travel agents and tour operators like IAAI and others, should provide industry partners ample opportunity to exchange their views as well as keep abreast with modern technologies and marketing strategies to improve the quality of travel and tourism services.”

With quite a few associations fighting for the same cause of the industry, what sets the aims of IAAI apart? Asserts Eapen, the main aim and objective of the convention is to unite the scattered travel agents fraternity in India on a common platform in order to achieve wider business prospects in the era of e-ticketing. One needs to realise that the rules and regulations as well as implementation procedures of IATA are getting very complicated each day. So, through this convention all IATA agents in India will have an opportunity to seek clarifications and guidance from industry stalwarts like Stephen J Lonergan (Travel Agency Commissioner-Area 3) and Birger Backman (ex-CEO- UFTAA and Senior Consultant IATA ).

Elaborating further on the association’s future plans, Eapen disclosed that, “The management committee has decided to have a national convention on a bi-annual basis, and the subject matter will be discussed at the National Convention in August 2004 for a final decision. We are also looking at forming a national level advisory board to address the issues of IATA agents, which will be represented by senior industry experts from the travel and airline industry. The advisory board will act as a Consultative Council of travel agents and other industry partners in co-operation with BAR - India and government departments. The association is also proposing an insurance guarantee scheme to replace the existing bank guarantee system, as a large number of IATA agents in India, nowadays are facing grave issue of capping limitations from each airlines. We have now almost reached on an agreement in principle with a leading Public Sector Insurance Company in India , with a very low premium of 0.8 per cent per one lakh of insurance guarantee (Each Rs 1,00,000 at 0.8 per cent and multiples thereof ) and negotiations are on for a further lower premium level to benefit the IATA travel agents in India.”

Adding further he said, “Our demands are that all travel agents in India ie approximately 1932, should have the freedom, liberty and facility to issue all airline tickets (based on capping) with their own validation without any disparity from the airlines. One should realise that in a free market, all travel agents requires parity in business canvassing, founded on sound business ethics, which should be mutually transparent. Transparency in incentives and other monetary benefits will facilitate all agents to participate in selling airline products without any disparity or discrimination between high/low productivity agents and the traveling public will have a choice to select their agent/carrier, based on the performance and services provided. We would also propose to restrict the CRS connectivity for on-line reservations only to the IATA accredited travel agents India.”