Airlines set to zero in on travel agents “Commis”
View(s):Sri Lankan travel agents have been adversely impacted over the low or zero commission levels reached under new airline rules.
Some travel agents noted that there had been a reduction in staff since they were unable to cope with the lack of extra earnings made through the commissions, industry sources said.
It was pointed out that staff reductions took place in a bid to maintain the same commission level earnings they made previously.
Moreover, the agents were pushed hard so much so that they were unable to increase the salaries of the staff as well.
This has resulted in the travel agent’s business turning out to be a low paid job that has led to workers of lower quality joining the industry, agents complained.
However, there were no agents that would have closed shop due to this issue, it was noted.
In addition, the industry has now been facing another new problem in that they were compelled to find collateral for the guarantee in terms of the property or fixed deposit that is adding to their costs in a bid to continue their operations.
Since SriLankan Airlines cut back on paying commissions to travel agents for the sale of tickets the industry now has to cope with new problems on the horizon, agents said.
It was pointed out that today most airlines have taken a cue from the national carrier’s move and were looking at cutting down on the commissions paid to these travel agents.
Travel agents generally carry out 70 per cent of the ticket sales operations and the total sales from travel agents is over Rs.4 billion.
About 50 per cent of total sales are from non-commissionable airlines, it was noted.
Commissions have been coming down from a high of about 7 per cent to 3 per cent today on some Middle Eastern carriers.