Sabah Impose RM50,000 fine on illegal tour guides call

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Tourism Federation (STF) has urged the government to impose a hefty fine of up to RM50,000 and enforce imprisonment to deter illegal tour guides and tour bus operators.
Sabah Tourism Federation (STF) president Dato Seri Winston Liaw said the current fine of RM500 for illegal tour guides and tour bus operators was too low.
Assuming illegal tour guides earn thousands of ringgit from 10 tours, and only have to pay RM1,000 in fines if they are caught twice, they still make money as there are no overhead costs, no office rental and licencing fee, he said.
Liaw, who is also Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (SATTA) president, said coffee shops and retailers have reported that business were getting better now.
Most travelers who come to Sabah nowadays are free independent travelers (FITs), who were prone to get cheated by illegal tour guides, he said in a press conference here yesterday.
Group travels, which have yet to increase significantly, have less chance of being cheated by tour guides as they are managed by registered travel companies.
In a recent case, Liaw said an illegal tour guide had collected payment from a group of travellers and disappeared.
Usually these victims will not lodge police reports on illegal tour guides as the process is time consuming, Liaw said, but such cases caused tourists to cross Sabah off their destination list.
Once cheated, these tourists will not want to visit Sabah again.
Now we depend on FITs, if they keep getting cheated and this gets spread via word-of-mouth when the tourists return to their countries, how does our industry survive?
Liaw pointed out that these bad apples would tarnish the image of Sabah among tourists and therefore the government should look seriously into this issue.
Hence, Liaw suggested upping the fine to RM50,000 and enforce imprisonment to deter illegal tour guides and tour bus operators.
He said the government should also assign officials to set up a counter at the airports and put up notices to warn offenders that what they do was illegal.
We hope that the relevant authority will nab (illegal tour guides) and prosecute them in court to serve as a deterrent for others.
Meanwhile, STF vice secretary general Tonny Chew said the tourism industry was protected by the Tourism Industry Act 1992 and Tourism Vehicles Licensing Act 1999.
However, more often than not, offenders got off the hook easily with merely RM500 fine and for years, none has been charged in court, he said.
Chew, who is also Sabah Tourist Association chairman, said it was high time for the federal Ministry of Tourism and Culture to review the existing Acts in order to amend irrelevant provisions under the Acts.
There should be more stringent enforcement, review of the Acts, create more awareness among the people and tourists and impose heavier punishments, Chew stressed.
Also present were honorary secretary general Christopher Chan (Sabah Hotel Association president), executive board member Richie Lee (Sabah Backpacker Operators Association president) and Sabah Backpacker Operators Association vice president Jeffrey Tsang.

Source: Borneo Post