The travel industry’s Bank Settlement Plan (BSP) is so ingrained in the operations of a travel agency now, it’s hard to remember a time when it wasn’t.
But back when this story ran, BSP was still a work in progress – and there were snarls with the rollout.
The headline for this edition of ‘It Happened This Week’ is: BSP implementation to be delayed
As travel advisors around the world know, BSP is the system that simplifies the selling, reporting and remitting procedures of IATA Accredited Passenger Sales Agents, as IATA puts it. It also facilitates financial control and cash flow for BSP airlines.
The first BSP developed by IATA was launched in Japan in 1971. A few years later, when this story ran, the Canadian travel industry was on the verge of joining too.
As the article notes, some 143 travel retailers from across Canada were ready to take part in the BSP pilot project. But there was a problem – the start date was being pushed back, from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1. What was the hold up? Problems with the forms, as it turns out.
The start date for full implementation, originally Jan. 1 the following year, was likely going to pushed back too, according to the story. “I imagine that date will be set back as well,” the IATA spokesman told CTM Travelweek Bulletin. “But it will all depend upon the success of the pilot project.”
For any travel agency on the receiving end of a BSP debit memo, it’s nice to know that IATA sometimes misses the mark too.
Fun fact: these days IATA’s BSP system is in 180 countries and territories, serving 370+ participating airlines with an on-time settlement rate of 99.999%. The system facilitates hundreds of billions of dollars worth of airfare transactions.
And here’s another fun fact: this story ran 5 years after Travelweek was founded.
Did the headline appear in Travelweek in 1978, 1988 or 1998?
Fill out the contest form below, with your guess and your email address. We’ll
announce the answer and the winner next week, along with the next contest headline. Last week’s headline about an uptick in group bookings (meanwhile, as it turned out, COVID’s omicron variant lurked just around the corner) ran in August 2021. Our winner for Week #26 is Diane Monnier with The Great Canadian Travel Co. in Winnipeg, MB. Congratulations Diane!
Every Wednesday in Travelweek Daily, we’re posting an article from Travelweek’s archives, spanning the years 1973 – 2023. Guess the correct year the story ran, and you could win a $50 Amazon gift card. There’s a new headline and a new chance to win every single week.
