Airline body to work with ASA
According to Isabel Hancock, chairmain of the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa (BARSA), ASATA's newly published guidelines on airfare advertising are applicable to the body's travel agency members only and not to the industry in general. Hence, BARSA intends working with the ASA to facilitate industry self-regulation in compliance with the current ASA Code of Advertising Practice.
This was announced by Hancock following a meeting held last week between BARSA executive committee members and ASA representatives.
"To ensure a win-win situation for all, we have approached ASA to facilitate an agreement between all relevant stakeholders and so doing, attain wide-spread industry compliance and self-regulation in line with the advertising standards body's Codes of Practice," says Hancock.
Head of legal and regulatory affairs for ASA, Gail Schimmel, has indicated that she is happy to facilitate a meeting between BARSA and industry players such as the Association of South African Travel Agents (ASATA), as well as any other affected industry bodies.
"We welcome any initiatives by industry to self-regulation and when various industry stakeholders play by the same rules, experience has shown that it is far more likely that a particular industry will have higher levels of compliance," she says.
