5 July 2002
KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has assured the Malaysian public it is safe to buy tickets from travel agents as they are licensed by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism.
All the licensed agents in Malaysia are also members of MATTA and are under a strict code of Ethics that govern good practices between travel agencies and customers.
Additionally, agents who hold stocks of tickets do so under a passenger sales agency agreement signed with the respective airlines.
MATTA issued this assurance in response to a news report in the July 1 issue of the New Straits Times with the headline, "Buy MAS tickets through online system". The report quoted the parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Donald Lim Siang Chai, advising MAS passengers to buy tickets using the online system to avoid being cheated by unscrupulous travel agents.
Lim was further quoted as saying, "It’s like losing money through fraudulent withdrawals from automated teller machines (ATMs).
In the preceding week, thousands of ringgit were siphoned off from the ATMs of various local banks by individuals who cloned ATM cards and tampered with the ATMs.
MATTA, in a statement released here yesterday, said it wrote to Lim on the same day the news report appeared, to enquire as to the basis on which he had given such advice, as it was tantamount to telling the public not to buy MAS tickets from agents.
"Such ‘advice’, if taken seriously, will definitely cause travel agents to lose business from the pubic. No response has, to date, been received by MATTA", the agent body said.
The statement went on to say, "Should there be so-called ‘unscrupulous’ travel agents that have perpetrated the so-called ‘scams’ as had been highlighted in the media recently, action can be taken within the legal scope available to Malaysia Airlines.
"Furthermore, on closer examination, it appears that the so-called ‘scam’ has, in fact, been operated by syndicates tampering with genuine tickets issued by unsuspecting travel agents. We understand that Malaysia Airlines is undertaking its own investigation into the matter."
MATTA advises all those who require assistance in any dispute in business dealings that cannot be resolved directly with the travel agency to contact the association’s honorary secretary general at Wisma MATTA, 11 Jalan 1/76, Desa Pandan, 55100 Kuala Lumpur; email: [email protected] ; tel: 603 9287 6881