Kota Kinabalu: Sabah tourism players want the authorities to impose heavier penalties on unlicensed and illegal tour operators.
The Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Satta) Chairman, Datuk Seri Winston Liaw, made the call following the rampant rise of illegal tour operators as tourism is recovering.
Liaw said this after verifying the matter with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) Sabah Director, Ibrahim Othman, at his office here.
According to the Tourism Act, he said, any unlicensed individual or non-governmental organisation (NGO) organising tours of any kind or student exchanges is considered illegal.