Singapore agents act to counter downturn
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Singapore’s travel agent body has said that while some members have implemented pay cuts, unpaid leave and small-scale retrenchments, none has closed because of the economic downturn.
A TODAY report said the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) has been offering help to its members. It would give members over SG$300,000 (US$200,000) in the form of a 30% rebate on subscription fees and up to 10% rebate for agents taking part in its travel fair in August.
NATAS Chief Executive, Robert Khoo, was reported saying that it was also helping some agency employers with training grants to keep people employed.
“During SARS in 2003, (travel agents) retrenched quite a lot of people and
when the economy recovered, they couldn’t get these people back,” Khoo was quoted saying.
The report said there were 861 licensed agents at the end of February, compared to 815 a year ago. In January and February, 26 new licences were awarded and 39 were ceased.
“Any help is useful at this juncture,” CTC Holidays’ Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Public Relations Alicia Seah was quoted saying. CTC’s sales revenue has fallen by 15-20%, the report said.
At Global Travel, staff have taken pay cuts of 3-20% and 70% of its staff have gone for training.
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