Chennai; Online Travel Aggregators (OTAs) will not be a law unto themselves anymore. The Union Tourism Ministry has, for the first time, decided to enforce strict guidelines, by this month-end.
The approval process which is designed as a voluntary scheme has been formalised to ensure adequate safeguards to customers against deficiency of services as well as punitive deterrence against it. The aim of the voluntary scheme open to bonafide OTA is to bring them on a common platform in the organised sector and the guidelines for approval will be rolled out online by this month-end.
As per the new norm, recognition as an approved OTA shall be granted by the Tourism Ministry for five years, based on the Inspection Report. The re-approval, thereafter, shall be granted for five years after an inspection by a committee of the same constitution. It will be mandatory for an approved OTA to prominently display the Certificate of Approval given by the Ministry in the office premises.
There are many players in the OTA segment operating now without any accreditation - validation. One of the risks of allowing the market operate unhindered is that unscrupulous players can vitiate the entire market through unethical trade practices. In order to engage with the OTAs constructively, it is imperative that a system is put in place with qualitative benchmarks, said the official statement.
Tourism Ministry expects the new system will set standards towards accreditation and add value to the dependability and reliability to the aggregators in the online space operating in the organised tourism sector.
