Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Stranded by Excellence, 150 report losses to Matta

At least 150 travellers, who were stranded due to travel agency Excellence Holidays Sdn Bhd going bust, have reported their losses to the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta).

Matta president Ngiam Foon said the victims lost some RM1.2mil.

The deadline to lodge reports with the association is May 21.

Ngiam said the incident was unfortunate but added that the association had been trying to address three aspects of travel protection for a long time.

“Professional indemnity is already available to travellers and we advise travellers to look for agents who are part of this as it covers losses suffered due to negligent acts of the travel agency.

“The second protection is for cashless medical and evacuation insurance which is ready for launch very soon,” he said.

This means that travellers do not have to fork out cash if they need medical attention when overseas.

“This will only cost RM2 a day and is not mandatory although it will be part of our packages. But if the traveller feels that he or she is adequately covered on their own, they can opt out by signing a waiver form,” he added.

As for providing coverage for protection of tour purchases where services are not yet fulfilled, Ngiam said the association found out that local insurance companies did not offer this sort of policy. This was later confirmed by Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen.

“Before we could address the issue of finding a way to protect travellers against tour agencies going bust, that particular company went bust.

“Countries that now have mechanisms to protect consumers from situations like these had to go through similar incidents before they implemented mechanisms to deal with it,” Ngiam said.

He added the association was moving forward by doing a comparative study among countries that have such protection to see which model would be most suitable for Malaysia.

Travellers affected by the bankruptcy of Excellence Holidays have been asked to contact Matta at 03-9287 6820 or e-mail to feedback@ matta.org.my.



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Source : STAR
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