ACTA Successfully Advocates for Canadian Travel Industry in Competition Bureau Market Study

ACTA is pleased to report a significant advocacy success following our close engagement with the Competition Bureau during their comprehensive Market Study on Competition in Canada's Airline Industry. Through detailed consultations, ACTA assertively represented the interests of Canadian travel agencies and travel advisors, resulting in a positive outcome for our industry.

During the consultation process, the Competition Bureau initially considered several potential recommendations that would have imposed significant operational and financial burdens on travel agencies and travel advisors. Some of these proposed measures were not only cumbersome and expensive to implement, but some were technically unfeasible given current industry systems and practices.

During the consultation process, the Competition Bureau considered several potential regulatory solutions to improve airline pricing transparency that would have significantly impacted travel agencies and advisors. These included proposals such as mandatory standardized labels displaying fare information upfront, requirements for "standard representative airfares" that include common extras, mandatory sharing of complete flight ancillary information between airlines and travel sites, mandatory upfront preference selection for all services before showing prices, and standardized fare categories across all airlines. While aimed at helping consumers compare flights more easily, these measures would have imposed substantial technical, operational, and financial burdens on travel agencies - many of which were technically unfeasible given current airline distribution systems and would have required costly website redesigns and complex new compliance procedures.

Following consultations, we are pleased that the Competition Bureau recognized the valid concerns ACTA brought forward and decided NOT to proceed with those problematic recommendations.

The full Competition Bureau Market Study report is available at: https://competition-bureau.canada.ca/en/how-we-foster-competition/promotion-and-advocacy/market-study-competition-canadas-airline-industry

2025-07-03 11:50:41