Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said that he will speak to global booking engines to reduce their commission on bookings done for Sri Lanka.
Currently, booking engines such as Bookings.com, Agoda.com, Airbnb, Expedia, Skyscanner charge around 15 to 20% from hotels when they coordinate a booking. “We want to meet their representatives and request them to reduce this commission for a short period.”
The Minister said that these booking engines do not pay any taxes to government but he values their service as they help to woo guests to Sri Lanka.
The Booking.com website and app, headquartered in Holland, has been suspended in Turkey since March 29, 2017 by a court ruling citing accusations of unfair competition in the lawsuit filed by the TÜRSAB according to www.hurriyetdailynews.com.
The Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), which has paved the way for blocking Booking.com in Turkey, has decided to take legal action against 20 other online reservation and travel portals.
“TÜRSAB will launch legal action against nearly 20 websites such as Airbnb, Agoda, Skyscanner and Expedia, which have been in unfair competition with the Turkish travel agencies and tour operators by not paying any tax although they earn income selling Turkish product and services to Turkish customers in the Turkish market,” Turkey’s leading tourism association said in a statement on August 8.
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