Travel Agents complain to House members
JAKARTA (JP): Twenty tour and travel agencies complained to the House of Representatives yesterday over a sharp increase in the guarantee funds that they are required to provide by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Some 26 travel executives met with members of the Golkar faction in the House, including M. Diran, Ben Mesakh, Rotulong Lengkey and A.R. Rangkuti, who are also members of the House's Commission V, which is responsible for transportation and tourism affairs.
The travel agencies represented at the meeting included Sahid Visantara, Puma Holidays, Indra Kelana, Cakrawala and Esa Tours.
The executives said that, as of July 1, all tour and travel agencies are required to provide guarantee funds of a minimum of US$15,000 or 120 percent of their average sales over 15 days.
Before July 1, tour and travel agencies were required to provide guarantee funds, paid to the state-owned Bank Bumi Daya (BBD), of only 40 percent of their average sales over 15 days.
The executives said IATA allowed travel agencies to use savings from the "Plan Save 5" scheme -- under which the agencies are obliged to save five-percentage points of the nine percent commissions paid to them by airlines -- for the guarantee.
The Plan Save 5 was introduced by the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (Asita) and (BBD) in 1993 to prevent unfair competition in airline ticketing. The five- percentage points of the commissions must be deposited with BBD and earn interest of seven percent per annum. After two years, 50 percent of the interest on the deposit is paid to the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board for the promotion of Indonesia's tourist industry abroad.
Protest
Several agencies protested against the introduction of the Plan Save 5 scheme, which was introduced in November 1993.
The executives said yesterday that the increase in the guarantee funds would hamper the operations of smaller agencies.
The House members promised that they would discuss the problem with related parties.
Meanwhile, a member of Asita's supervisory board, Hadisusanto, told the Jakarta Post yesterday that travel agents had been notified of the increase by IATA in early 1994.
Asita had been successful in convincing IATA to postpone the introduction of the higher rate until July this year, he said.
The chairwoman of Asita's Jakarta chapter, Meity Robot, told the Post that the association was scheduled to hold a press conference today to clarify the issue. (icn)