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It has been reported to the Educational Travel website that the owners of a number of travel agents have recently combined with the intention of creating a new professional body, to address their needs and those of others in the industry.  One of the initiators of the organization said: “We have doubts in the ability of the association to respond to the wishes and interests of all agents.”

The owners of a number of travel agents have recently started to unite with the aim of forming a new professional body as a replacement to the existing travel agents association.  The process started before the publication of an investigation by the antitrust authorities; but the process has accelerated since this was exposed.

Behind this initiative are the owners of a number of travel agents who hold the agent’s certification from the Association and claim they are not satisfied with the conduct of the Association.  They also report that the Association is refusing to cooperate with their new initiative.

In a conversation with the Educational Travel website, one of the initiators of the enterprise said that for a long time there has been a feeling that the Association of Travel Agents failed to represent and address the opinions and the wills of many who contribute to its work.

 “We wish that all of those being investigated by the Antitrust Authority will be found to be spotlessly clean, however the recent events show that the Travel Agents Association, from being a body that promotes and operates, has become a body that is damaged and defensive.  In this way we have doubts of the ability of the Association to respond not only to the wishes and thoughts of all of the travel agents, but even to the demands of its members.”

In the next few days, a new internet site will start operating and will begin the procedure of registering members and activists with the aim of obtaining recognition from state authorities and international bodies.  “After six months of preparation, we are meeting to select institutions and to begin a new direction.”

 “In the meantime, with the launch of this new project, we may well appoint an external chairman, who is not necessarily a travel agent. “At such a difficult time it is preferable to gather together and combine all of those who are willing to share the load in carrying out the activities, even if it means adjusting to be more open-minded and dealing with matters, that were not discussed in the past,” said one of the initiators.