Australian Federation of Travel Agents chief executive Jayson Westbury has been re-elected as chair of the World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA) and will serve a further one-year term in the role.
The announcement was made at the WTAAA’s annual general assembly and bi-annual Board meeting which took place in Bilbao, Spain earlier this month.
“Board members of the WTAAA represent travel agents across much of the globe and it is clear that there are many issues of commonality which need to be addressed” Westbury said.
“Together with the wider travel and tourism industry across the world, we are committed to interacting with governments and regulatory bodies to stimulate positive change. With modern advances in bio metrics and intelligence sharing, surely governments can remove themselves from issuing visas and requiring travellers to jump unnecessary hurdles to travel freely as tourists and enhance the visitor economy across the globe.”
He confirmed that the WTAAA will continue to work for change in this area and others that will facilitate travel without creating any threat to national security.
Other issues tackled at the meeting included the deferment of the implementation of new arrangements for websales settlement via the billing settlement plan (BSP) as well as the IATA new generation settlement and accreditation plans.
