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WWW TRAVELWEEKLYCOM
www.travelweekly.com
THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
MARCH 26, 2012
Getting
in the game
Twenty-two states have legalized gambling,
and in an era of dwindling government coffers,
others are eyeing the tax revenue it generates.
BY DANNY KING
PAGE 18
[ BATTLE OVER ANCILLARY SALES ]
GDSs vs carriers:
Story in IATA pub
fuels the conflict
By Johanna Jainchill
The ongoing war of words between airlines
and GDSs escalated this month with the
publication of an article in Airlines International, the house magazine of IATA, that
described GDSs as outdated and unable to
handle ancillary bookings.
At the heart of the matter is a long-fester-ing clash between the two sides: Do GDSs
lack the technological ability to distribute
airline ancillary products, or will the airlines
just not let them?
The IATA article quoted Montie Brewer,
the former CEO of Air Canada, accusing the
GDSs of being a “bottleneck” between customers and airlines.
“Airlines are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the types of product they are
offering, and consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their purchase
decisions,” he said. “The frustration is that
See ANCILLARIES on Page 40
ASTA: Full-time agent numbers
growing, contractors declining
By Johanna Jainchill
In February, while crunching data collected
from 465 of ASTA’s
travel agency owner
and manager members, Society researchers were taken by a
very notable shift in
one category: The
average number of
independent contractors appeared to have
dropped, while the number of full-time employees was on the rise.
It revealed the first such reversal in five
years.
The reversal of a five-year
trend suggests the number
of career travel sellers is
stabilizing, at least for now.
Low-sulfur fuel shortages
a challenge for cruise lines
By Donna Tunney
New maritime fuel emission rules
being imposed by the U.S. and
Canadian governments have the
cruise industry on edge.
The rules, part of the North America
Emissions Control Area (ECA), which extends 200 nautical miles from the U.S. and
Canadian coasts, require a progressively
steep reduction in the amount of sulfur dioxide cruise ships can emit from their diesel
engines over the next eight years.
A major challenge in complying with
the rules is the scarcity of low-sulfur fuels,
coupled with higher costs. These issues have
led to “very intense conversations” between
cruise executives and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according
to Adam Goldstein, president and CEO of
Royal Caribbean International.
Time is not on the cruise lines’ side; the
rules begin to take effect Aug. 1. They will require cruise ships to reduce sulfur emissions
to 10,000 parts per million (1% of the fuel’s
volume) in August; to 1,000 parts per million
(0.1% of volume) in 2015, and then to 500
parts per million (0.05%) in 2020.
According to the EPA, the high-sulfur
bunker fuel currently used by most cruise
