Satta files complaint against unlicensed social media tour operator
KOTA KINABALU (April 23): The Sabah Tour and Travel Agents Association (Satta) has filed a formal complaint against a social media operator soliciting tours without a proper licence.
Satta chairman Datuk Seri Winston Liaw claimed that the local operator had been using Xinjiang China International Travel Service to solicit tour members to deal with Xinjiang CITS, which is not legitimate within Malaysian laws.
Liaw reminded that in Malaysia, the operation of any tour and travel activities must have valid licence issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC).
According to Section 5(2) of the Tourism Industry Act (Act 482), no person shall carry on or operate, or hold himself out as carrying on or operating a tour operating and travel agency business unless it is a company and holds a valid licence.
The act also states that anyone who is found guilty will be liable to a fine not exceeding RM500,000 or 10 years jail, or both, for the first offence and a fine of not more than RM5,000 for each day the offence continues to be committed.
'Satta urges the authority to further strengthen the laws by imposing a RM10,000 fine on those tour members who are involved in such activities, applying the 'No Buyers, No Hunters' principle.
'We also urge Xinjiang CITS not to deal with individual social media operators.
'We welcome interaction through any China-Sabah tourism activities within a legitimate framework,' Liaw said after filing the report with Satta secretary-general Henry Yee at the Motac Sabah office here recently.
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