FLT: Travel Agents bidding for Passport Applications and Renuals

Source: News.com.au - http://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...t/news-story/6c956a268a712e4e0779c2a88c111ff6


TRAVEL agents may soon be able to organise a lot more than just our holiday itineraries.
Australia’s tourism industry is hoping to win the Federal Government’s tender for passport services when Australia Post’s hold-held contract expires next year, in what may help draw travellers back to bricks-and-mortar travel agencies.
And it’s not the only industry bidding for the lucrative tender, with pharmacists having also thrown their hat in the ring.
After 30 years of processing the nation’s passports, Australia Post’s tender with the Federal Government expires in June 2017. The contract is worth about $120 million a year, The Australian reports.
And it could be even more valuable with the government expecting passport applications to skyrocket from 1.8 million in 2014-15 to a whopping three million by 2019.

Travel agencies say getting Australians to apply for passports in-store will give the industry a much-needed edge over online booking agencies that are proving tough competition.
“It will definitely help drive people into travel agencies; it will bring travellers back to the travel agents,” Luke Crawford from travel agency Travelstartup told The Australian.
Australia Post was expected to re-tender for the work, while supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths denied they would make a bid.
More than 1500 pharmacies are believed to have signed up before expressions of interest with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade closed on April 27.
Enhanced online passport application services have been flagged as one of the solutions for dealing with the projected surge in passport applications.
In its Budget this month the Federal Government said it would raise the cost of an Australian passport by $20 from January 1, 2017.
The new price of $274 is expected to raise $173 million over four years.