Skift Take
After Covid put the travel market under a microscope, Ecuador aims to define who’s who in the companies section, create a clearer environment for online sales, prevent embezzlements and enhance the quality of experts.
Paula Krizanovic
Ecuador’s Ministerio de Turismo has reformed the law regulating travel bureau and operators in order to develop a clearer relationship between companies and customers, overview rights and responsibilities for both, along with clarify the required procedures to sign up companies and acquire needed licenses.
The modifications are being enjoyed carefully as a potential model in other places.
The update in Ecuador put into print what virtual channels, virtual commercialization and tourism plans are in Ecuador. It likewise consisted of definitions and requirements for agencies and operators, and separated wholesale firms, worldwide travel bureau and dual agencies, that can offer services and also function as operators.
“Previously, a firm didn’t require to have a physical office. Now the physical area is key to get licenses,” stated Luz Clara Gonzaga Vallejo, planner of the Tourism Observatory of the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja.
“It likewise ended up being necessary for adventure travel bureau to have insurance coverage for travelers, probably to stamp out unlawful operations and prefer credited companies,” she added.
Other requirements are having at least half of the staff with a degree in tourist or an associated field (or have actually accredited skills in it) and 20 percent with at least a B1 language level according to requirements developed by the Typical European Framework of Recommendation for Languages.
“It is likely that these requirements are not well received by companies,” stated an agent from UTPL. “But tourist professionals have been requiring these improvements to the occupation for a very long time. I believe the Mintur is betting on an upgrade of the quality of services.”
Online Operations
When asked by Skift how the legislation will bring more transparency to the sector, Gonzaga Vallejo reiterated the requirement of a physical address.
“Agencies have constantly had the ability to commercialize services under the criteria of e-commerce as any other company, but to keep better controls and prevent embezzlement, a physical office is now needed,” Gonzaga Vallejo stated.
The bylaw specified that a company signed up with the National Tourist Authority is responsible for verifying the accuracy of the details provided in the virtual channels. Requirements for virtual channels were likewise established– such as an address and telephone number for the licensed agency, security procedures for online purchases and information security and cancellation and compensation policies. Lastly, misinforming online details concerning the quality and reach of the advertised services could result in charges.
More Changes to Come
According to main quotes, Ecuador is anticipating to receive about 800,000 foreign travelers in 2022 and two million by 2025. Those figures are attributed to marketing efforts, elimination of taxes in lodgings, and prospective open skies contracts with the United States and other nations.
Tourism Minister Niels Olsen is likewise apparently working on a brand-new tourism law to change the present legislation going back to 2002 and adapt it to the truth of the marketplace.
In the first couple of months of 2022, Ecuador will likewise be releasing a new Visa Nómada, a type of permit to attract high earnings digitial wanderers. Colombia is the just other South America to presently to have a such plan in location. And Olsen expects to implement brand-new tourist branding for Ecuador, which the law will need travel bureau to use in online platforms and advertising products.
The Federación Nacional de Cámaras Provinciales de Turismo, which manages the country’s provincial tourist workplaces, also discussed recently that to recover from the pandemic the industry needs more access to credit. This organization approximates that 120,000 tasks were lost due to the recession brought on by the pandemic– in addition to 25 percent of business in the sector failing.