We received the following press release from Travelstart and we thought it interesting so we're passing it on...
The lack of transparency in the way that airfares are published online and in print advertising is stifling the travel industry.
This is frustrating travellers and, according to Travelstart, will only serve to give the entire travel industry a bad name.
Travelstart believes that travel agencies, airlines and tour operators need to keep the customer in mind when advertising fares and is calling for the industry to stop confusing and frustrating its clients.
Although base fares have remained constant, mandatory taxes, booking fees and fuel surcharges fluctuate, prompting travel agents and airlines to advertise base rates without fees or taxes.
This aims to entice travellers into the sales office or website, but once there, they are often disappointed when the agent quotes a completely different and inflated fare.
In a recent survey conducted by Travelstart among nearly 9 000 travellers, 99,2 percent of respondents said that when they research travel fares, they prefer to see the full price upfront, including all taxes and fees.
Why not just show the full fare and save the traveller the disappointment from the onset?
It is not good business practice, nor ethical, to mislead travellers by advertising rates that do not reflect the full price.
"At Travelstart, our philosophy is to make it easy for our customers by showing them exactly what they're paying for upfront, so there should be no reason why everybody else can't do this as well," says Travelstart chief executive and founder, Stephan Ekbergh.
"A solution would be for government to enforce transparency in the way the industry advertises and quotes fares. This is the case in Europe, where a new transparency legislation was passed in November 2008."
