Since 1 January, the SNCF has reduced the commission paid to travel agencies for the sale of train tickets from 7.8 % for national routes and 10 % for international routes, to a single rate of 4.8 %. "We had to terminate all existing contracts with travel agencies and sign new ones incorporating the new remuneration conditions", explains Fabien Soulet, Director of Travel Agency and Corporate Sales at SNCF. The railway company justifies this policy by the widespread application of handling fees by travel agencies to their leisure and business customers.
Faced with this change, and in order to protect their remuneration, the Selectour and Afat Voyages networks have decided to acquire the SNCF's Internet module, called Ravel Classique, which will enable their business customers to book their tickets directly on their computer. The Tourcom agencies, for their part, have drawn up an indicative scale of charges and sent a letter to their account companies to inform them of this change. This is not an insignificant change for the SNCF, as last year these distributors accounted for 20 % of its Main Line sales, of which 80 % concerned business travel. As part of this policy of reducing its distribution costs, the SNCF hopes above all to increase online sales by agencies, from 5 % today to more than 30 % in 2009.
