Worldwide agents groups formalize alliance

ASTA and its counterparts from points as far flung as Australia, Europe and South Africa agreed to incorporate its fledgling trade group, the World Travel Agents Associations Alliance, or WTAAA, as a not-for-profit organization under Belgian law.

It is an association of associations created to allow the trade to address and exchange information on issues of broad interest.

WTAAA was created on a more informal basis three years ago at ASTA headquarters, and since then the group has spoken for the trade in some circumstances. For example, Mike Hatton, CEO of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, has participated in IATA meetings on behalf of the group.

In order to avoid unnecessary expense, the group had agreed not to incorporate "unless there was a real reason to do it," said Bill Maloney, ASTA's executive vice president and COO.

However, he said, the group found the informality to be a barrier to attracting participation from some national groups.

Without the formal structure and without a Web site, "it seemed not to exist," he said.

In addition, he said, the International Standards Organization, which "wants to apply worldwide standards for everything including agents," didn't recognize WTAAA, and "we want a seat at the table," Maloney said.

At its meeting in Lyon, France, during ASTA's International Destination Expo this month, WTAAA also elected a board and officers. Hatton is the chairman, Maloney is vice chairman. The other officers are Michel de Blust, secretary general of the European Travel Agents and Tour Operators Associations, secretary; and Christiane Theberge, CEO of the Association of Canadian Travel Agents, treasurer.

Incorporation is expected to be completed by June 30, and the WTAAA secretariat, with no paid employees of its own, will be hosted at the ECTAA offices in Brussels.

For decades, there has been another worldwide association for travel trade groups, the United Federation of Travel Agents Associations. However, Maloney said, the WTAAA founders, including ASTA, have over the years dropped out of UFTAA out of frustration that the group is "ineffective at getting anything done."

Also, the group spent a lot of time and money having meetings for members of the trade associations, he said. "That's like a French citizen deciding to participate at the U.N.," Maloney said, adding WTAAA won't use resources that way.

Meanwhile, he continued, there are many common issues that agents face, such as debit memos, dealing with GDS rules and, currently, the question of antitrust immunity for the SkyTeam airline alliance. In addition, de Blust, Hatton and Theberge were among the representatives of the trade at an IATA meeting last week, which focused on IATA's elimination of paper tickets for agents worldwide except in the U.S.

WTAAA member organizations also include the Association of South African Travel Agents; the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand; and the Travel Agents Federation of India. The member associations represent almost 70% of global airline settlement plan billings and, because ECTAA covers the European Union, it represents trade organizations in 33 countries.

To contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to Nadine Godwin at [email protected].