- Association of Special Fares Agents
Infobox Organization
name = Association of Special Fares Agents
image_border =
size = 120
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formation = 1986
extinction =
type =
headquarters =Sofia ,Bulgaria
location =
membership = 880
language = English
leader_title = President
leader_name = Koos Jan Schouten
key_people =
num_staff = 4
budget =
website = http://www.asfa.net/The Association of Special Fares Agents, or ASFA, consists ofAirline Consolidator s, Bucket shops andDiscount Travel Agent s.Aims
The main purpose of ASFA is the exchange of knowledge in regards to discounted
airline tickets on the sameroute offered in differentmarkets .Founding
Founded as ITA (International Travel Association) in 1986 in
Amsterdam by Ad Latjes, Koos Schouten, Folke von Knobloch, Rudi Weissmann, Daniel Staeger and other discounttravel industry experts as a platform for discount travel specialists, consolidators and bucketshops from all over the world.History
After disagreements between the founding members about territorial exclusivity at a meeting in
Singapore in April 1987 was changed to ASFA. ASFA was to allow multiple agents per country, while ITA (http://www.ita-travel.com) continued as a small cartel.Ad Latjes broke away from ASFA in 1989 to establish ETN (European Travel Network) (http://www.etn.nl).
The administrative office of ASFA moved in 1998 to
Sofia ,Bulgaria .Activities
ASFA organises annual
workshop s around theworld with the purpose of educating international travel agents in the art of creative ticketing and to exchange information about new trends in the airline ticketing industry. In addition ASFA enables it's membership of independent travel agents to create a worldwide network.ASFA does not
bond orlicense agents . ASFA members are registered and bonded according to the laws of thecountries andstates that they are operating in.Membership
Currently ASFA has 1013 members (31 July 2008).
External links
* [http://www.asfa.net/ ASFA, The Association of Special Fares Agents website]
* [http://vliegticket-goedkope.eu ETN, European Travel Network website]
* [http://www.ita-travel.com ITA, International Travel Association website]
* [http://www.koosschouten.com/ Koos Jan Schouten website]
* [http://www.adlatjes.com/ Ad Latjes website]
* [http://www.centralasiatourism.com/ Folke von Knobloch website]References
* [http://hasbrouck.org/faq/ The Practical Nomad – Airline Ticket Consolidators and Bucket Shops FAQ, by Edward Hasbrouck]
* [http://www.vliegticket-goedkope.eu The World of Ad Latjes, by Ad Latjes]
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