ASATA, as chair of the World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA), is actively involved in championing the interests of the South African, and indeed global, travel agency community at IATA.

In particular, three key areas are current under scrutiny:

• The ADM Working Group
• The Remittance Holding Capacity Working Group
• The Payment Method Technical Advisory Group

The latter two are part of the IATA NewGen ISS project:

ADM Working Group

This Working Group aims to identify the root causes behind the issuing of ADMs with a view to reducing these through training and improved controls.

Remittance Holding Capacity Working Group

IATA is investigating a way in which to calculate the formula for Remittance Holding Capacity since 22,4% of agents will reach their RHC at least once a year. The RHC Working Group will conclude its work by March 2017.

Payment Method Technical Advisory Group

The focus is on the development of a standard to allow for third-party electronic payment solutions to be implemented alongside IATA’s own EasyPay solution.

Additional IATA projects of relevance to travel agents in BSPZA include:

• New Distribution Capability

• Default Insurance Product