Citibank offers surcharge omission

JAKARTA: Six leading national travel agencies have made an agreement with banking giant Citibank to waive the 2.5 percent to 3 percent surcharge on bills paid by travellers using credit cards.

"We hope this collaboration doesn't only benefit credit card users, but also the traveling industry. We hope that this will produce more travelers since traveling has become a lifestyle," Citibank's business manager Barry Lesmana said here on Friday in a statement.

The six agencies are Wita Tour, Smailing Tour, Bayu Buana Tour, Anta Tour, and Dwi Daya Tour.

The agreement is also expected to pioneer a termination of the surcharge imposed on credit card users in the industry. "We hope that the new facility will boost the use of credit cards and create a new market segment (in the travel industry,)" said the president of Wita Tour, Stanley Soesono.

Under the agreement, the travel agencies will also offer "competitive" conversion rates for transactions in U.S. dollar.

Citibank also gives the facilities of ticket delivery, free airport lounge, and travel insurance up to Rp 4 billion (about US$470,000) to its card users. -- JP