Submission to Reserve Bank enquiry outlines credit card challenges for agents.
AFTA has made a formal submission to a Reserve Bank of Australia issues paper on “Card Payments Regulation,” raising areas of major concern which affect the Australian travel industry.
Although AFTA supports most of the proposed changes put forward in the paper, ceo Jayson Westbury has identified the “inequitable transfer of prepayment/chargeback risk from end suppliers to the travel agents who facilitate customers’ travel bookings” as a key item for discussion.
This risk is having a major impact on small businesses which are being priced out of the market for the provision of credit card merchant facilities. “If the issue of prepayment/chargeback risk is not appropriately addressed, the ability of travel agents to maintain electronic payment methods could be put at risk,” Westbury warned.
The RBA proposal also suggests the introduction of “differential surcharging” based on the type of card and further regulation of a business’ ability to to recover the true cost of transactions through surcharging, which is likely to have a significant impact on the travel sector, AFTA said.
More information in today’s issue of Travel Daily.