Asita revises 'Plan Save 5' program
Asita revises 'Plan Save 5' program
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's travel industry has decided to try out a revised savings scheme designed to facilitate business and stabilize international air fares.
Members of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (Asita) agreed at the conclusion of their congress on Wednesday evening to proceed with a modified version of Plan Save 5, which will give agents access to the interest on savings after only one year.
Under this agreement, the name of the program may be changed.
The association held its three-day congress in Medan, North Sumatra, to elect a new board of executives and to discuss the savings scheme, which has stirred controversy since its initiation two years ago.
Plan Save 5, introduced in November 1993 to prevent price wars between agencies, has threatened to divide Asita into two groups, one supporting the scheme and the other opposed to it.
Under the scheme, five percentage points of the nine percent commission extended by foreign airlines must be deposited with the state-owned Bank Bumi Daya, which offers an annual interest of seven percent on the money.
After two years, 50 percent of the interest on the deposits is paid to the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board for the promotion of Indonesia's tourist industry abroad. The other 50 percent belongs to the depositors.
Those opposed to the program protested strongly when it led to a sharp increase in the funds they were required to provide as a guarantee to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in August this year.
IATA required each tour and travel agency to provide a minimum of US$15,000, or 120 percent of average sales over 15 days, in guarantee funds. Previously, the guarantee required was only 40 percent of average sales over 15 days.
What made the debate over the program more heated than usual was the fact that IATA and Asita had agreed earlier that the agencies' deposits under Plan Save 5 might be used to pay the guarantee.
Asita also agreed to let more state-owned banks participate in the program, Antara news agency reported yesterday.
Re-elected
During its sixth congress, Asita also decided to re-elect Sri Mulyono Herlambang as the association's chairman for the 1995- 2000 working period.
The congress first decided to choose five candidates to formulate the new structure of the executive body of the organization on their own. H.M. Bermawi was also re-elected as Asita's secretary-general.
The new board of executive consists of 19 members, 11 of whom are newcomers. (icn)