Credit cards not good enough

white money, while they are paid in cash. “We have a strong presence in Punjab where a lot of rich farmers with unaccounted wealth travel abroad. They pay in cash, and hence can’t buy packages online.”

Gurdeep Singh Gujral, CEO and director, Gujral Tours & Travels Pvt Ltd. points out that he rarely uses credit card for ticketing as its refund takes a long time. “When we cancel ticket bookings our clients want an immediate refund. But if the payment was made with credit cards it takes about a month to process the refund money,” he says. you will have to share the secret pin number with your staff, which is always a risky business. Says Gujral, “Your internal accounts team should be very strong which keeps a tab on the billing on a daily basis. Also, they need to make sure that your supplier is not overcharging as when you share your card details with the supplier they can always misuse it and refund takes a long time.”

Sahni sums up the issue for : “The regime of credit cards will not succeed unless the profit of airlines goes up and they are able to absorb part of this expenditure. Also, the government should issue a guideline on its usage, in consultation with us, so that more travel agents can use it.”