Agents offering fake umrah packages must be sternly dealt with - MATTA

The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) today urged the Regulatory Umrah Council to take stern action against tour agents offering fake Umrah packages.

MATTA chairman Hamzah Rahmat said other than making it compulsory for organisers of Umrah packages to have a special licence, the council must also have the power to punish offenders.

"More would-be pilgrims are duped by unregistered tour agencies or irresponsible individuals who offered cheaper packages than the stipulated RM4,900 a package.

"Normally, cheaper packages will draw people's attention, so, would-be pilgrims will not hesitate to buy it without checking the background of the tour agency that offered such packages," he told Bernama here when asked to comment on a local newspaper report on the directive of the council that Umrah package organisers must have special Umrah licence issued by the Tourism Ministry.

Hamzah said offenders must be compounded and jailed to prevent more would-be pilgrims from falling victims to tour agents offering fake Umrah packages.

Meanwhile, Bumiputra Travel Tour Agents Association of Malaysia (BUMITRA) chairman Datuk Syed Mohd Razif Al Yahya said the public must scrutinize the background of tour agencies before signing up for an Umrah package.

"The quarters handling the Umrah package must have a contract with the agencies dealing with the Haj pilgrims affairs in Mecca (Muassasah), registered as a member of MATTA or BUMITRA, and provide Umrah insurance coverage covering return fights to the holy land.

"Furthermore, the tour agencies offering Umrah packages must have a paid up capital of RM200,000 and owned 100 per cent by Muslim Bumiputra," he said.

He said, of the 500 tour agencies who were members of BUMITRA, only 59 per cent had contracts with the Muassasah.