Umrah tickets: Travel agencies guilty of breaking regulations and laws will have licences revoked

Tiong (seated right) meeting Sarawak Commissioner of Police Dato Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri (seated centre) and his deputy Dato Mancha Ata (seated left).

By Wilfred Pilo

KUCHING, Feb 1: Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, says his ministry has just completed its investigation into the alleged misconduct of a travel agency in the wholesale of airline tickets for Umrah pilgrimages to the holy land.

“I have asked my deputy minister, Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan, to carry out the investigation, and to engage with travel agencies on the subject matter.

“Yesterday, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts And Culture (Motac) just completed the probe on the alleged agency, and I have no time to look into the matter, I will probably look into it before going to the ASEAN Minister Forum 2023 in Indonesia,” he said, adding that if the agency is guilty of infringing regulations, the ministry would cancel it’s licence.

He told reporters after his official working visit to the Sarawak Police Contingent Headquarters at Jalan Badruddin here today.

It was reported by Berita Harian on Jan 27, that a number of travel agencies are alleged to have sold their wholesale airline tickets to agencies offering Umrah packages in a neighbouring country for a higher figure to gain higher profit.

The matter is also being investigated by the Ministry of Transport and has been referred to the Malaysian Aviation Commission. — DayakDaily