Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to the travel agency associations for their review
and feedback. It has been contemplated that TICF
would be implemented, at latest, by end of 2012
(BERNAMA, 2012a; Bernama 2012b; Dato' Dr.
James Dawos Mamit, 2012). However, to date,
TICF has not yet been tabled at the Parliament.
guarantee the travellers refund of tour fare paid
and repatriation in the event travel agencies went
into insolvency. Such arrangements for security
may either be made by entering into a bond with a
body approved by the relevant authority or by being
insured under appropriate insurance or by holding
the travellers' pre-payment in a trust account until
the completion of the tour packages (regulation
17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, UK Package Travel, Pack-
age Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992;
sections 23, 24 and 25, Irish Package Holidays and
Travel Trade Act 1995).
Ontario, Canada (regulation 25, Regulation
26/05), Quebec, Canada (regulation 28, Regulation
Respecting Travel Agents Regulation) and Califor-
nia (sections 17550.11 and 17660.37, California
Business and Professions Code) practice hybrid
system of protection whereby travel agencies are
required to be a contributor to compensation fund
on top of the requirement to provide a form of
financial security or surety bond. In Hawaii (section
468L-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes (Chapter 468L)),
Illinois (section 6, Travel Promotion Consumer
Protection Act), Virginia (section 59.1-447.1, Code
of Virginia (Travel Club Act) 2010) and Washing-
ton (section 19.138.040, Revised Code of Wash-
ington), protection of pre-payment is ensured
through the requirement for every travel agency to
deposit such payment into a trust account main-
tained in a federal insured financial institution. In
Hong Kong, the Travel Industry Compensation
Fund provides payment of compensation for loss
sustained by outbound travelers due to an accident
which resulted in the death or injury during out-
bound travel service organized by licensed travel
agency (rule 5A(1), Travel Industry Compensation
Fund (Amount of Ex Gratia Payments and Finan-
cial Penalty) Rules,). However, for the purpose of
the application, no provision stating that proof of
negligence in respect of the accident is required.
3
OVERVIEW OF THE SCOPE OF TICF
The principal purposes of the proposed TICF in
Malaysia are threefold; (i) to protect the legitimate
interest of travellers who purchased package tour,
(ii) to serve as assurance to travellers on the package
tour purchased and (iii) to protect domestic and for-
eign travellers from cases arising from fraud, negli-
gence and insolvency. The general concept of TICF
to protect outbound travellers against travel agen-
cies' insolvency and failure to carry out contractual
obligation has been the underlying idea behind
the establishment of similar compensation fund in
Brunei (section 26(1)(i), Travel Agents Act 1982),
British Columbia (regulation 18, Travel Industry
Regulations 2004), California (section 17550.36(a),
California Business and Professions Code), Ontario,
Canada (regulation 57(1), Ontario Regulation
26/05), People's Republic of China (article 15, Reg-
ulation on Travel Agencies 2009), Quebec, Canada
(section 36, Travel Agents Act; regulation 37, Regu-
lation Respecting Travel Agents), and Queensland,
Australia (section 40(1), Travel Agents Act 1988).
Another way of looking at the function of com-
pensation fund is to protect travelers' pre-payment
of tour fare rather than the fulfillment of package
tour as a whole. Protection of pre-payment in this
context, conceptually, covers situations in respect of
abscondment and travel agency's insolvency. This
has been the view adopted by Hong Kong (rules
4(1) and (2), Travel Industry Compensation Fund
(Amount of Ex Gratia Payments and Financial
Penalty) Rules), Australian Capital Territory (sec-
tion 149(1), Agents Act 2003), New South Wales,
Australia (regulation 15.1, Travel Agents Regu-
lations 2006), South Australia (regulation 15.1,
Travel Agents Regulations 1996), and Western Aus-
tralia (regulation 15.1, Travel Agents Regulation
1986). Some countries have their own unique sys-
tem of protection for travellers. Travel agencies in
Florida (section 559.929(2), Florida Statute (Seller
of Travel)), and Jamaica (Travel Agencies Regula-
tion Act, section 10(a)(iii) (1956)), for instance,
are required to secure surety bond to compensate
unethical misconduct of travel agencies. In United
Kingdom (regulation 16(1), Package Travel, Pack-
age Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992)
and Republic of Ireland (section 22(1), Package
Holidays and Travel Trade Act 1995), travel agen-
cies are required to provide adequate security to
4
THE MODUS OPERANDI
4.1
Composition of the board of trustee or
committee
In general, the Board of Trustee or Committee may
be divided into two administrative components
which are the management and the evaluation pan-
els. The TICF will be managed by a Board of Trus-
tees or Committee presided by the Commissioner
of Tourism with the Licensing Division acting as
the secretariat. It would appear that the role of the
Commissioner is administrative in nature. As the
law currently stands, the Commissioner plays a
prominent role as the adjudicator in determining
the quantum of compensation to be awarded to
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