1 lakh e-mails to Singapore PM, say travel agent associations

Mumbai: Travel agents will send one lakh emails to the Singapore Prime Minister on April 1 as part of a campaign to protest against Singapore Airlines' failure in reinstating the agency commission.
Indian travel agents launch 'operation-e' campaign on April 1 and plans to flood the e-mail box of the Singapore Prime Minister with one lakh e-mails to draw his attention towards the issue.
"One lakh e-mails will be sent to the Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, by all IATA travel agencies on April 1. And this is not going to be an April Fool joke. We want to make the Prime Minister aware of the issue as well as seek his intervention in resolving the issue," IATA Agents Associates of India (IAAI) President Biji Eapen told PTI here.
"We have made every effort to make Singapore Airlines understand the issue in perspective and restore the agency commission like domestic air-carriers have done, but to no avail, hence the operation-e," Eapen said.
In addition to one lakh e-mails to the Singapore Prime Minister, "All IATA travel agencies will be sending 5,000 e-mails every day to the Indian operations heads of all the 14 overseas air-carriers operating in India, who have resorted to zero per cent commission," he said.
The concerted action by these 14 airlines would affect the livelihood of 10 lakh direct and indirect employees in the travel and tourism industry, Eapen said. "The move has also resulted in loss to the national exchequer by way of 12.36 per cent service tax and 11.33 per cent income tax on the commission earned by the travel agents," he said.
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Categories: Foreign Mar 2009