ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT TRAVEL AGENCIES ISTANBUL MEETING
Dear Members,
The new draft law to replace Law No. 1618, which the Ministry of Culture and Tourism plans to abolish, endangers the future of TÜRSAB, a fifty-year-established institution, our travel agencies and Turkish tourism. Dividing our professional organization into parts and moving away from the central structure will encourage the model of establishing an organization according to political, unethical and other unprofessional thoughts, and this will eliminate the power of travel agencies to be represented as a unity.
The New Law Destroys the Professional Qualification of Travel Agencies
In the new draft law, travel agencies are removed from the characteristic of professional commercial enterprises and treated as purely commercial enterprises. This will cause capital power to come to the fore instead of professional knowledge and experience, and those with large capital will destroy the market shares of labor- and knowledge-intensive travel agencies.
Unfair competition will be paved the way for unfair competition by eliminating the supervision of professional organizations in the control of professional activities. Small and medium-sized enterprises will either become dealers of the big ones or face the danger of closure.
The Division Of Travel Agencies Into Different Professional Organizations According To Their Capital Power Will Lead To Monopolization
Gathering travel agencies into separate professional organizations according to their turnover or capital size, organizing the big-small distinction in the sector, will weaken SME travel agencies in the face of a small number of large capital travel agencies and the tendency towards monopolization will grow.
Travel agencies should be classified according to their professional qualifications, not according to their turnover or capital. The new law does not include any provisions on professional competence and ignores professional accumulation.
Removing Insurance and Consumer Rights From The Law Will Reduce Trust In Travel Agencies
The absence of a regulation on Professional Liability Insurance in the draft will reduce the confidence of travel agencies in the eyes of consumers and cause them to face difficulties in the face of those who have more advertising opportunities and want to become a monopoly. Leaving the issues related to consumer rights only to the regulations to be made by the Ministry of Trade will lead to the prominence of general regulations instead of tourism-specific regulations and the rights of travel agencies will not be observed.
Dividing TÜRSAB, which conducts 200 thousand inspections a year, will lead to the market becoming uncontrolled and tourism activities to remain unattended. The division of the union will cause a confusion of authority in professional representation, as a result, Turkish tourism will suffer.
We Are Coming Together With Our Travel Agencies at Lütfi Kırdar
As TÜRSAB, we are coming together at Lütfi Kırdar Congress Center on Wednesday, January 31 at 13:30, to inform and consult about the new draft law that will cause damage to our travel agencies and our sector.
We would be pleased to see you at our meeting for the future of our Association, you and our sector.
Association of Turkish Travel Agencies
TÜRSAB