Small travel agents support savings plan
Small travel agents support savings plan
JAKARTA (JP): A number of small and medium-scale travel agents
said here yesterday that the Plan Save-5 savings scheme
introduced by the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel
Agencies (Asita) has not affected their international air
ticketing business.
Plan Save-5 is a plan set by Asita which requires its members
to save five percentage points of the nine percent commission
provided by airlines.
Squabbles about Plan Save-5 intensified after the scheme was
implemented in November 1993, with some travel agents in favor
and others opposed. The controversy resurfaced last month when
the International Air Transport Association (IATA) raised
guarantee funds from 40 percent to 120 percent of two-week sales.
Under IATA's new policy, each tour and travel agency is
required to provide guarantee funds of a minimum of US$15,000 or
120 percent of its average sales in 15 days. Previously, the
guarantee funds were set at only 40 percent of average sales in
15 days. The IATA and Asita agreed earlier that the agencies'
deposits under Plan Save-5 may be used to pay for the guarantee
funds.
Several agencies complained to the House of Representatives
about the sharp increase in the guarantee funds and urged them to
halt Plan Save-5.
The parties have also visited IATA's manager in Indonesia,
Djuarsa Joedadibrata, who was asked to delay sanctions on any
agent failing to pay guarantee funds by early this month.
Asita's chairman, Sri Mulyono Herlambang, has reacted that the
association will not suspend the plan, saying, "If there are some
objections, let's discuss them at Asita's congress in November."
A travel agency executive, S. Maryono, said here yesterday
that Plan Save-5 was actually introduced to prevent price wars
between agencies. The five percentage points from commissions
must be deposited with the state-owned Bank Bumi Daya, which
offers an annual interest rate of seven percent. After two years,
50 percent of the interest on the deposits is paid to the
Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board (ITPB), while the other 50
percent may be withdrawn by the depositors.
ITPB's managing director, Wuryastuti Sunario, told The Jakarta
Post recently that the board had already received some Rp 1
billion ($441,500) from the plan.
General Manager of Blue Swan Tours and Travel, Sjachrul
Firdaus, said yesterday that there were 239 IATA members in
Indonesia as of July 1995. "The number was 177 in October 1993,
meaning that after the implementation of Plan Save-5, 62 agents
have joined IATA," he said, adding that based on data from ASITA,
only 14 agents in Jakarta oppose Plan Save-5.
Meanwhile, Djuarsa told the Post yesterday that IATA has not
yet decided the schedule for imposing sanctions on agents which
fail to provide guarantee funds. (icn)