FlightSite, a subsidiary of Club Travel, has launched FlightSiteAgent.co.za, a booking platform that enables anyone to become an Independent Travel Consultant (ITC).
Launching the concept in Cape Town last night, FlightSite md, Rian Bornman, said no travel agent qualifications, GDS or travel industry experience is required.
Sign up is free. No deposits or sureties are needed, nor contracts or start-up fees. All that is required is a cellphone number and an email address.
Sign-ups have to load money into an account and then have access to the best net fares drawn from Travelport, aggregators and airlines and are able to determine their own mark-ups, making them more competitive than traditional travel agencies, he claimed.
With just a 5% mark-up, he said, FlightSiteAgents could potentially make R3 500 profit per month for less than five minutes work a day or R18 500 profit per month for less than five hours work a day.
Ticketing, he added, was instant with itineraries sent to clients’ mobile phones or email address. ITCs could brand their bookings and they would receive instant and reliable sales reports.
He said FlightSiteAgent.co.za (the company) would make its money by generating booking volumes and earning concomitant override commissions.
The platform would be launched in Johannesburg and Durban soon, supported by monthly information sessions.
Rian said the platform has the potential to revolutionise South Africa’s R15bn travel industry. He said the ITC market was already the fastest growing sector in South Africa, growing by 50% annually and 49% since 2007.
FlightSiteAgent.co.za, he said, aims to sign up 3 000 new ITCs in the next three years, by targeting “anyone who wants to sell travel, creating thousands of new entrepreneurs”, but also small businesses and existing travel agents. “This is very exciting. South Africa has a growing middle class who are more likely to buy travel from a friend or colleague.”
However, he acknowledged that FlightSiteAgent.co.za potentially could cannibalise FlightSite and Club Travel’s own business, impact negatively on other travel consortiums and compete with other Online Booking Tools (OBTs).
He argued that traditional agents and ITCs would retain their clients by offering advice and an excellent service, whereas FlightSiteAgent was merely a booking tool.
He said the immediate focus for FlightSiteAgent.co.za was to finalise clients’ payment options, which at this stage included EFTs, credit card payments verified by Visa, and in-store payments at Pick n Pay stores. He said bookings of car rental and accommodation establishments would be available by year-end. At this stage, the system is geared towards point-to-point airline bookings, but holiday packages (possibly in conjunction with Holiday Tours) are envisaged.
FlightSiteAgent.co.za is based on India’s Via.com, which provides the technology for the booking platform. Viacom chief business officer, Divya Mohan, who attended the launch, said Via.com within six years of being launched in 2007 posted US$400m in turnover, with 80 000 Indian ITCs now using the platform making 40 000 bookings daily. It has also signed up 6 000 ITCs in the Philippines and 2000 in Indonesia.
