Indian Online Travel Agents (OTAs) are planning to charge their clients Service Fee on sales in view of the decision taken by domestic and international airlines to implement the zero commission regime from October 1 this year. According to senior executives of the Indian OTA industry, charging Service Fee is being cited as the only option to gain from air bookings post October. OTAs like Travelocity.com, Yatra.com, Cleartrip.com, Arzoo.com and Travelguru.com are among the big players considering implementation of the service fee model.
Talking about Travelocity.com’s plan for implementing the Service Fee model, Himanshu Singh, Managing Director – India, Travelocity.com said, “Service Fee is an international model operational in all countries having zero commission for agents. Being an international portal, we are already working on the Service Fee model in USA, Europe and Australia. We will switch to the Service Fee model as and when the Indian market implements the same.” |