THE term of Asata’s current
board has been extended
until the next AGM, which will
take place next year.
The motion to extend
the term of the board was
passed by Asata members at
the AGM on September 20.
Asata ceo, Otto de Vries,
explained that, due to the
change in the process of
nominating and electing the
board, the current board had
only been in place since the
start of this year. He said it
was important for the board
to be given adequate time to
fulfil its mandate.
Items on Asata’s
agenda at present include
engaging with Treasury on
government travel spend;
preparing the industry for
the implementation of
the Protection of Personal
Information Act; and
addressing Sars’ auditing of
agencies, with Sars insisting
that VAT should be applied
to all commissions earned
on the domestic leg of
international flights.
Otto urged members
present to continue to apply
zero VAT as the industry has
always done.
The board is made up of
Club Travel’s Gary Mulder,
eTravel’s Tammy Hunt, Flight
Centre Travel Group’s Andrew
Stark, Sure Travel’s Vanya
Lessing, Travel Counsellors’
Mladen Lukic, TWF’s Steve
Egan, Wings’ Frank Palapies,
XL Travel’s Sailesh Parbhu,
with The Holiday Factory’s
Jackie Turnbull as wholesale
member and Avis’s Lance
Smith as partner member.
Dinesh Naidoo of
Serendipity is president of
Asata, with Scholtz Fourie
of Tourvest Travel, vice
president and Colin Mitchley
of BidTravel, treasurer.
