Travel agencies say Tarom keeps fees

National airline Tarom has decided to keep the current 7% fee deducted by travel agencies for selling tickets for its flights as it is, at least until the end of 2004, the representatives of the National Association of Travel Agencies (ANAT) on Monday said. “ANAT has concluded a co-operation agreement with Tarom and got guarantees that the 7% ticketing fee paid by this company would be maintained over the near future, that is throughout 2004. Our request is the have this period actually extended until Romania joins the European Union,” Malin Munteanu, member of ANAT’s Board said. “The decision was confirmed by Mr. Miron Mitrea, the Tourism minister, who chaired this meeting between ANAT and Tarom,” he added. As a national company whose market share is of about 40%, Tarom sets the trend on the market, so that this decision may very well mean the other airlines will not make any changes next year, either. ZF