KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (Mita) has called for coordinated enforcement against foreign-registered tourist vans allegedly operating commercial passenger services in Malaysia without the necessary permits and approvals.
Its vice-president for transport, Logeswaran K. Sukumar, said there were serious concerns over Thailand-registered vans entering Malaysia without passengers before allegedly picking up customers locally and transporting them across the border for tourism purposes.
He said such activities, if proven, could undermine Malaysian-licensed tourism transport operators who had to comply with local licensing requirements, vehicle regulations, insurance obligations and other operating costs.
"Malaysian tourism transport operators invest heavily in vehicles, permits, insurance, maintenance, safety requirements and regulatory compliance. The law must be applied fairly to all operators, whether local or foreign," he said in a statement on Wednesday (Nov 11).
Logeswaran said local tourism van and bus operators were required to meet regulations imposed by agencies including the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac), Land Public Transport Agency (Apad) and Road Transport Department (JPJ).
He urged the authorities to review and clarify regulations governing foreign-registered tourism vehicles entering and operating in the country.
Among the issues requiring clarification were whether foreign-registered vans could enter Malaysia without passengers before picking up customers locally, and whether they had the necessary permits to provide commercial passenger transport services.
He said authorities should ensure that cross-border passenger movements comply with approved tourism and transport regulations, and that proper records are maintained at border entry and exit points.
He called on all the relevant authorities including the police and Immigration Department to conduct joint enforcement operations, particularly at border areas and tourism hotspots.
He further proposed an integrated monitoring system to track foreign commercial tourism vehicles entering and leaving the country, verify their permits and identify possible unauthorised activities.
Logeswaran stressed that Malaysia remained open to tourists and cross-border tourism cooperation with neighbouring countries, but operators must abide by the laws of the countries in which they conducted business.
"We welcome tourism cooperation between Malaysia and Thailand. However, cooperation must be based on mutual respect and fair competition.
"Foreign operators should not be allowed to conduct commercial activities in Malaysia in a manner that unfairly disadvantages Malaysian-licensed tourism transport companies," he said.
He urged the Government to conduct a thorough investigation and take appropriate action if any violations were established.
He said Mita was prepared to assist the authorities by providing relevant information and evidence to support enforcement efforts.
