Imposing New Currency Surcharges

In the past week ACTA has been contacted by members sharing feedback on a recent $20 currency surcharge imposed by Sunwing. Travel Agencies in the province of Quebec were most vocal expressing how unhappy they were about yet another non-commissionable fee by taking to social media to express their disappointment.

ACTA strongly believes that only real taxes belong in the tax field and all other “service fees and surcharges” are a cost of the product and belong in the base fare. This issue is not isolated to just one tour operator, but is a global issue, and ACTA has been pushing for change about this problem for some time. In a recent ACTAVision article we spoke to the latest realities of the issue, but at the same time recognized that not all travel suppliers follow this practice. The service fees and surcharge issue is also starting to be covered by main stream media, including an article just this week by the Wall Street Journal.

ACTA has and will continue to raise this matter globally through the World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA) and push for change not only in Canada, but world-wide.

We will keep you posted on our progress.

Sincerly,

Wendy Paradis