Prothom Alo
The civil aviation and tourism ministry is preparing a circular to regulate the operations of travel agencies in the country.
According to the draft circular, the licensed travel agencies will no longer be able to buy or sell tickets among themselves. With this, the ministry is planning to ensure transparency and accountability in travel agency business, alongside preventing consumer harassment.
However, the travel agencies expressed opposition to the move and argued that the agent-to-agent (B2B) ticketing model is widely recognised across the world. It enables the agencies to buy or sell tickets through their partner agencies. If the practice is outlawed, the local agencies will not be able to keep pace with the international market, causing losses to hundreds of thousands people associated with the sector.
A different clause of the draft circular noted that all travel agencies must obtain accreditation and membership from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to conduct their business.
Insiders said there are 5,746 licensed travel agencies in the country, where only 970 are recognised by the IATA, and only 350 are permitted to sell tickets of major international airlines, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Saudia.
Obtaining IATA membership requires a minimum security deposit of Tk 4 million. Besides, some airlines, including Air Arabia, Indigo, Salam Air, or Jazeera Airways, do not sell tickets under IATA. Thus, over 5,000 travel agencies are dependent on only 350 agencies for collecting tickets.
If the government bans agent-to-agent ticket sales, these large- and medium-scale travel agencies will simply be closed, feared the travel agency businesses.
Ministry sources said there were multiple meetings over the draft circular, but it was yet to be finalised. When asked about the issue, Fatema Rahim Veena, additional secretary (tourism) of the civil aviation ministry, refused to make any comments.
According to the ministry, a total of 4,476 registered agencies or 83 per cent of the total agencies do not have the IATA accreditation. Once the circular is issued, these agencies will be barred from selling tickets, and it may lead to a ticket crisis in the country and inflict sufferings on travellers.
Agency owners argued that there are two types of agencies across the world – IATA recognised and non-IATA. Nowhere in the world is it mandatory to obtain IATA accreditation or certification to operate a travel agency. Then, they ask, who is the government is trying to serve with such a decision.
According to them, the giant travel agencies obtain IATA membership as there is an issue of financial deposit. The waiting period for membership is also long as it often lingers to several years. Besides, the agencies are not allowed to purchase tickets of all airlines with a small security deposit.
A travel agency must operate for at least six months to qualify for IATA membership application. The qualified agencies are required to submit a Tk 3 million bank guarantee and other documents to the IATA’s country manager in Bangladesh.
If approved, the agencies are allowed to purchase tickets of only three to four airlines with a Tk 3 million deposit. As the agencies are permitted to buy tickets worth 70 per cent of their deposits, an agency with Tk 3 million guarantee can purchase tickets worth Tk 2.1 million only.
Gofran Chowdhury, owner of Moin Travels, said in the first three months of this year, he issued only eight tickets directly, while the rest were sourced through other licensed agencies. Due to low bank guarantees, major airlines do not allow them to sell tickets directly. If the circular is issued, they will have no choice but to shut down.
He also warned that the circular will pave the way for the giant agencies to control the market, leaving no space for the low-deposit ones. As the low-cap agencies will fail to remain in competition, the large agencies will enjoy a monopoly in the air ticket market and the foreign ones will take advantage.
Currently, all IATA-accredited agencies are based in Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Feni, Noakhali, and Rajshahi. Agencies in other districts rely on agent-to-agent ticketing to serve customers. If the government makes obtaining IATA accreditation mandatory, some 4,476 travel agencies across the districts will be shut, eventually leading to inconveniences for the travellers.
Afsia Jannat Saleh, secretary general of the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), said they came to know about the circular through media reports. However, they were neither communicated nor consulted over the issue.
“If a ban on agent-to-agent ticket sales is proposed, we will not support it. Only a few hundred of around 5,500 travel agencies are IATA agents. What will happen to the rest? They will not be able to be IATA members. This clause should not be included,” she added.