The Ministry of Tourism has formulated guidelines for approval/re-approval of Online Travel Aggregators (OTAs) to make sure that there are adequate safeguards against deficiency of service, alternate arrangements if needed and punitive deterrence.  

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The guidelines will be rolled out online by the end of December, 2018. The scheme for approval/ re-approval of OTAs will be rolled out on the online platform and all applications and fee payment will have to be made on the online platform. 

The scheme is expected to set standards towards accreditation and add value to the dependability and reliability to the aggregators in the online space operating in the organised tourism sector.

This is a voluntary scheme open to bonafide online travel aggregators to bring them on a common platform in the organised sector, Tourism Ministry said in a statement.

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In the recent past, several Online Travel Aggregators (OTA) who aggregate rooms in various accommodation segments have emerged. The emergence of OTAs can galvanise this segment and emerge as the game changer, the statement said.

An OTA is intermediary/agent selling travel products and services such as the airlines, car rental, cruise lines, hotels/accommodation, railways and vacation packages on behalf of suppliers using internet as a medium. 

There are several players in the OTA segment operating now without any accreditation/validation. One of the risks of letting the market operate unhindered is that unscrupulous players can vitiate the entire market through unethical trade practices. 

In order to engage with the OTAs constructively, it is imperative that a system is put in place with qualitative benchmarks to accredit them. The paramount concern would be the assurance of quality of service delivery for the customer by the OTA, it said.