‘Untouchable’

More than 200 complaints have been lodged against a man who has been operating as a travel agent and who, reportedly, has been fleecing individuals and groups, including schools and churches, of funds amounting to as much as $3 million for hotel trips that were never booked.

The travel agent, however, has not been charged although several customers, reportedly, have filed complaints about him with the police.

Denton Edwards, registrar of travel agencies in the Ministry of Tourism, who made the disclosure in an interview with The Gleaner, said persons have been complaining about this particular individual for more than a year.

“A lot of people tell me that they have gone to the police, and they have reported him, and they are calling the person ‘untouchable’, which I don’t understand how somebody could be doing things like this and become untouchable,” said the registrar.

“The next thing, why are people still using them because there is so much press out there where people are saying don’t use this entity because I use them and they rob my money and people are still going to them?” Edwards said.

‘New Age’ travel agents

However, at the same time, the ministry official said that although the complaints have been coming in, he is unable to act and is not even empowered to name the individual or entity because the individual and all the other “New Age” travel agents are not captured in the current Travel Agency Regulation Act.

Nonetheless, Edwards said he would be meeting with the police and would discuss the situation though the meeting is not specifically about this issue.

“I don’t want to believe one side of the story as the police will also have their side, but we will talk to them and see what can be done.”

Edwards said that he could only advise people to go to the police and or to sue the individual to recover their money but that some of the customers are too embarrassed to do so.

“I know of people who have lost over $100,000, I know of people who have lost over $300,000, and I know of people who have lost over $3 million. It’s a lot of people because the person targets groups like church groups.

“The last case I heard of was some church people who were going on a church activity at a hotel and went to the same entity, and when they turned up at the hotel, nothing was there. There was no reservation for them. They had to call a church member who, incidentally, has a registered travel agency, which they didn’t go to and she had to rescue them, and they were embarrassed,” Edwards said.

Added the registrar: “I don’t know why nobody has ever done anything about this entity. I don’t understand. It just don’t make no sense that somebody could be doing something like this.”

Edwards explained that since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a massive increase in the number of persons operating as travel agents in the island.

“Before COVID, there was a steep decline in travel agencies, and we saw a lot of people going out of business because the airlines stopped giving out commission. They became wholesalers, so it, basically, killed a lot of travel agencies, especially the smaller ones. Some of them went out of business, some merged, while some people tried to find other things to do like visa and passport application,” he said.

However, Edwards said several persons started off by booking their own trips, and because of what they posted on social media, persons started asking them to book trips for them, and because it is a lucrative venture, other people followed suit.

Coupled with the increase in persons operating as travel agents online, he said there are also a number of fraud cases that have come up. While the number of cases would appear to be minimal, the sums of money being defrauded from customers are concerning.

Consequently, the registrar is cautioning persons not to be dazzled by “fancy pictures” that are being posted online and cheap deals and to ensure that they are doing business with registered travel agencies.

Edwards said a list of 53 registered travel agencies is posted on the Ministry of Tourism website, and they offer the same services.

These persons, he said, are known to be honest and are required, as part of the registration process, to pay a $100,000 bond to deal with payment issues with customers.

At the same time, he said that although the current bond needs to be increased, and will be fixed in the new legislative amendment, there is nothing in place when dealing with unregistered persons who are now calling themselves travel agents.

According to Edwards, they are really reservation clerks.

He explained that under the current regulation, a travel agent is a person who books flights and cruises, but does not handle hotel reservations, even though travel agents handling reservations is accepted globally.

Consequently, he said a draft of the amendments is currently being worked on to, among other things, redefine the term ‘travel agent’.

“We find that the act needs some teeth for the fraudulent things that are happening, and even though we did amend the act to upgrade sanctions and fines, we did not upgrade certain things.

“We also need to get the police to act. The legislation is very vague on what is to be done to get a person before [the] court,” he added, noting that it Act does not say whether the agent is to be summoned and by whom.

Further, he said the legislation requires an agent to work from a “brick and mortar” commercial entity, and this will also need to be addressed as at present, many of the so-called agents are working from home.

“There are some international companies that support these things and have been supporting it for some 30 years, where they give their International Air Transport Association (IATA) number to people operating from home to arrange hotels and then share the commission.

“That’s why a lot of people can work from [home]. They are, basically, using the IATA number of an international company,” he said.

Edwards noted that many of these travel agents kept the local hotels in business during the pandemic.

“So they are really doing very good business, and I don’t think we are unhappy, as the Ministry of Tourism, and I don’t think the hotels are unhappy, except when some things go wrong when they take the money and don’t provide the hotel rooms,” the registrar said.

Given the slew of issues arising, Edwards said the need for the amendment, which is at the draft stage, is urgent.

Another issue of concern, he said, is that these new-age travel agents, if arrested, are subjected to general laws rather than the penalty of a fine of a maximum of $1 million and or a maximum 12-month sentence for breaches of the Travel Agency Regulation Act.

In the meanwhile, he said travel agents are still encouraged to get registered and can do so by working from a shared office space or by getting a reputable hotel to vouch for them.

“I can’t say we are going to register everyone, but we can use some discretion, and in registration, we have to be very careful,” he said.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com