The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents has urged the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to either amend or revoke the Fourth Schedule of the Tourism Industry Act 1992.
MATTA president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said the section “Travellers Outbound Terms and Conditions” under the schedule had become outdated in its terms and conditions, as seen in the current Covid-19 pandemic.
“For the past six years, we have made repeated efforts to have it amended or revoked, however it breeds no change. Tourism should not be held back by such outdated terms.
“The particular schedule was drafted way before outbound travel became fully developed. Everything has changed now, they have to catch up with the current reality,” he said during a press conference here today.
Tan said the outdated Fourth Schedule had landed travel agents in a quandary, especially with the sudden outbreak of Covid-19 since late December 2019.
“They are now exposed to the potential liability of around RM500 million from customers seeking compensation, regardless of cancellation and refund policies of various service providers, while the travel agents suffered in forking out their money to pay for the requested refunds.
“We believed the ministry should take the responsibility to intervene, to resolve the current predicament.”
Tan said it was best to let travel agents operate freely as consumers were adequately protected by existing laws.
The Covid-19 outbreak had led to mass travel cancellations and huge losses in the tourism industry.
“With the school holidays approaching, we estimate around RM150 million in potential losses, for outbound travel. Out of this figure, RM52.5 million potential losses came from Umrah cancellations only.
“If the outbreak does not subside until December, I reckon we will all be out of jobs,” Tan quipped.
With the World Health Organisation declaring that the Covid-19 outbreak has become pandemic, Tan said it would further affect the tourism industry severely.
“Since the second wave, people have become increasingly reluctant to travel. We can only advise our consumers to postpone their trips until the situation recovers.
“We had met with the Malaysian Aviation Commission recently, where we’ve asked local and foreign airlines to relax their terms and condition (on refunds) and to give more leniency in extending booking periods.”
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