The Hindu Business Line : Travel agents hope Malaysia will scrap rule on bank guarantee

THE Travel Agents' Association of India (TAAI) is hopeful that Malaysia will soon scrap its recent decision requiring travel agents to furnish bank guarantees of Rs 3.5 lakh with the High Commission to avail themselves of its online visa processing facilities.

This follows a recent meeting between senior TAAI officials and the new Malaysian Deputy Minister for Tourism, Mr Datur Ahmad Zahid Hamid. The meeting, held last week in Malaysia, was also attended by Malaysian immigration officials.

According to the TAAI President, Mr Balbir S. Mayal, Mr Hamid had assured its officials of a "positive response."

He told Business Line that the TAAI officials had "convinced" Mr Hamid of the urgent need to lift the new rule, especially since outbound tourism was now at its peak.

According to Mr Mayal, there were two sides to the current issue.

While the Malaysian authorities wanted to sustain and improve tourist inflows, these objectives had to be balanced against the security concerns raised by its immigration officials.

A section of the travel trade here felt that the Malaysian authorities should follow the stringent appraisal procedures of the UK and the US.

The two countries have outsourced a part of the operations to visa facilitation centres, which require applicants to furnish a number of documents to make screening easier.

During discussions, the TAAI team impressed upon the Malaysian officials that they could not be held responsible for the actions of travellers, as they were mere "facilitators" in the visa processing operation.

Besides, travel agents did not collect information on the antecedents of any of the travellers.

They added that while the High Commission should blacklist travel agents found guilty of any malpractice, it should not look upon the entire travel trade with suspicion.

Mr Sylvester Thomas, Vice-President, Southern Region, TAAI, said that none of their members were conducting business with the High Commission in Chennai and visa processing had dropped by about 50 per cent as a result.