The Association of Travel and Tourism Agents in Lebanon (ATTAL) threatened Friday not to sell tickets for national carrier Middle East Airlines MEA and other foreign airlines that plan to lower agent commissions on ticket sales from 9 to 6 percent, The Daily Star reported Saturday.
MEA and foreign airlines in Lebanon decided in January to lower the agents’ commissions in the wake of the open skies policy approved by the government last December, and similar reductions in other countries in the region.
ATTAL president Ghassan Kheireddine, whose organization represents about 250 of Lebanon’s estimated 700 travel agents, was quoted by the daily as saying that “these reductions will take away one-third of our annual income from ticket sales, which ranges between $250 million and $300 million a year.”
Kheireddine told a press conference Friday that it will only become clear which companies are paying 9 percent and which 6 percent at the end of March, when travel agents send their sales figures to the airlines.
“According to the 1972 law governing the operations of travel agents in Lebanon, any reductions in commissions should be approved by the government in conjunction with IATA (International Air Transport Association),” he said.
Travel agents fall under the authority of the Ministry of Tourism and airlines under the authority of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, which has not stopped airlines from reducing commissions – Albawaba.com
