NST,Friday, December 03, 2010
The Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (Matta) recently announced that its members would be encouraged to charge consultation fees from next year.
Going by subsequent media reports, the public seems uneasy about it and even those in the travel industry appear to be confused. Perhaps some clarification will be in order.
As our society matures, we should discard behaviour such as taking delight for getting free goods or services. Instead, we should accept products only when they are needed, and pay fair value for them, just as we expect to be paid for our work.
We have no qualms paying consulting fees to professionals such as doctors, but unlikely to do so when making a medical enquiry with a nurse.
Similarly, when asking for the price of an air ticket or the fare for a packaged tour, there should be no charge for such enquiries. Likewise, information that is readily available should also be given away free.
However, productive hours are required to map out a detailed itinerary involving travel to multi-destinations. It would be wise to obtain quotations from several travel agencies as the difference in time, money and comfort can be quite substantial.
According to Matta’s guidelines, the consultation fee will be absorbed by the travel agency should the client take up the offer. Ironically, this will effectively allow unsuccessful travel agencies to collect consultation fees for offering uncompetitive or inferior quotations.
There are 3,657 licensed travel companies and branches nationwide but not all have the professional expertise to safeguard the interests of their clients.
There is no system to identify which agency has qualified staff with the necessary expertise to warrant charging a consultation fee.
Consultants are normally experts in their field. But travel consultants are those seated behind the counter. Some of them are truly experienced but quite a number are junior staff who may struggle to understand what you are trying to tell them.
However, outbound tour operators invited by corporate customers ought to be paid for the preparation done in working out incentive tours meant to reward high achievers.
As these tours are highly customised and never quite the same, planning them requires considerable amount of resources.
Currently, the tourist guide is the only licensed profession in the travel industry and guidelines for their fees have long been on force. Similarly, tour planners, event managers and conference organisers should also be licensed and consultation fees introduced.
The travel industry has expanded only in terms of quantity, but the quality of staff has actually taken a dive.
Matta should therefore obtain training grants from the Tourism Ministry to upgrade the professionalism of travel industry personnel. It would then be appropriate for travel and tour companies to charge consultation fees.
YS Chan
Kuala Lumpur
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