THERE has been a six
percent drop in Southern
Africa’s Iata-accredited
agencies over the past year,
with industry experts expecting
more agents to relinquish
their licences in 2020 when
Iata introduces new payment
methods.
The number of agents
participating in BSP-ZA (RSA,
Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho,
eSwatini) had declined from
529 in 2018 to 498 in 2019,
Iata has confirmed.
“The combination of the
payment complexities that
accompany Iata’s soon-tobe-launched NewGenISS
programme, together with the
removal of the monthly BSP
payment remittance option is
causing agents to reconsider
the benefits of remaining
Iata-accredited,” says Asata
ceo, Otto de Vries. These
developments have placed
pressure on agencies’ cash
flow, requiring them to be
more careful with payments
to avoid being cut off from
ticketing. As a result, a lot
more agents are considering
becoming sub-agents, he says.
Ceo of Club Travel, Wally
Gaynor, told TNW that two
Club Travel agencies had
recently relinquished their Iata
licences, with another eight
or nine members considering
doing the same.
“The costs, the risk of ADMs
and the time-consuming
administration of having your
own Iata licence simply isn’t
worth it any more, particularly
if your agency doesn’t
process a massive volume
of bookings. We are going to
see a lot more consolidation
in the industry going forward,”
he says.
Gm of Travel Counsellors
in South Africa, Mladen
Lukic, says agents have
been relinquishing their Iata
licences since the introduction
of eticketing, but says this
trend has intensified in the
past year.
“Maintaining an Iata licence
involves significant challenges,
which make it too onerous
a burden for many small
agencies to bear. An Iata
licence is only an operational
requirement for a very specific
business model these days,”
he says.
Mladen’s concern is
over the forced licence
relinquishments that may
occur once Iata’s payment
changes are implemented in
the market. “Many agencies
may default due to cash-flow
problems and these forced
defaults may leave consumers
unprotected.”
