IATA is already the trusted broker in the transportation industry, and best positioned
for ".travel"PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) would like to congratulate IATA
for its initiative, innovation and effort to provide a neutral and
independent
forum for management of the ".travel" top level domain. Many have questioned
whether IATA is representative of the
travel industry, and whether it can act
neutrally, ethically and is trustworthy to manage the .travel TLD. PwC would
like to respond to these arguments.
Travel and transportation represented US$3,500
billion or approximately 12% of the global economy in 1998. Air travel counted
for US$1,360 billion of this travel and transportation figure, and airlines carried
over 1.6 billion travelling passengers around the world last year. We believe
that air travel is one of the primary drivers of the travel and transportation growth
worldwide,and IATA plays a unique and unprecedented role in ensuring the competitive
growth
of this sector.
PwC supports IATA's proposal to manage the .travel domain.
To the best of our knowledge, there is no other single organization in the travel
and transportation sector with a proven track record of neutral, independent brokering
of services while acting on a global basis. To be precise, today, IATA currently
serves over 97,000 travel entities around the globe, as an independent, trusted and
neutral party.
1. Today IATA ensures the fair, prompt and accurate clearing
and settlement of
over US$166.2 billion transactions per year amongst a broad
spectrum
of travel industry participants including hotels, car rental agencies,
cruise
lines, rail, cargo carriers, airlines, and freight forwarders. This service currently
serves over 90,000 passenger travel agencies, 6,000 cargo agents, 274 airlines and
other travel organizations in over 185 countries.
2. For those travel entities
not serviced by IATA, the second most important organization of this nature, ATPCO,
has expressed its full support of IATA for the .travel TLD.
3. Both UFTA and ASTA,
the largest travel agency associations in the world have expressed their support
for the IATA proposal.
4. The International Union of Railways and other rail entities
have expressed their support of the IATA proposal.
5. Some of the largest
infrastructure providers, ie airports, which host multiple modes of transportation
including air, rail, and car have expressed their support of the IATA proposal.
6.
IATA acts consistently on behalf of those entities which do not have as strong of
a voice due to size or location on industry issues today, to ensure fair representation
of all parties.
7. IATA has committed to a broad and independent travel advisory
board to ensure the voice of the entire travel and tourism industry can be heard
regarding the .travel TLD. Representatives will include travel agent associations,
hotels, car hire companies, rail, cruise lines, consumer groups, airports and other
entities.
This activity should mitigate any concerns expressed regarding partiality.
Finally,
to echo Citibank's endorsement, we believe IATA understands well the impact of the
internet upon the travel industry. Whereas many intermediaries in the travel
distribution chain have challenged whether IATA is the right body to undertake the
.travel TLD, we would argue that few other global organizations better represent
global travel industry interests and proactively work to solve the
many legal,
regulatory, economic, infrastructure and other constraints to growthand competition
worldwide.
Diana G. Deen