By Paula Luckhoff, 13 August 2024

The Competition Commission has reached an agreement with Booking.com, meaning local establishments can charge a lower rate than the one advertised on the travel platform. Stephen Grootes interviews Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of SA.

To listen to the interview, please click HERE (this is the original article page)

An announcement by the Competition Commission on Tuesday brings good news for the consumer, accommodation establishments, and the South African tourism industry.

The Commission has reached an agreement with Booking.com, which means that local accommodation outlets can charge a lower rate than the one advertised for them on the travel platform.

The agreement comes after Booking.com dropped legal action against CompCom over its Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry (OIPMI) findings and agreed to abide by its recommendations.

Stephen Grootes chats to Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA).

Tshivhengwa agrees that this is an important development that benefits the local industry.

He notes that the international platform constitutes about 50% of online accommodation bookings in South Africa.

“The issue around the price parity has been there for quite some time, along with issues around the payment of commissions and VAT.

“This ruling comes at the right time in terms of ensuring that there’s price parity that is acceptable for the industry. The agreements they’ve had with the accommodation providers have been quite strict.”

“It results in establishments not being able to take advantage of offering a special, or they have to be constantly negotiating with Booking.com, so it does interfere with business in terms of making sure that you have a dynamic pricing that you can adjust according to the demand.”

Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO – Tourism Business Council of SA