Re-visit alternative dispute resolution in resolving disputes amongst travel operators and holidaymakers in Malaysia - Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research - page 308

about the travel industry which the agency must
regulate. It alerts the Ministry of Domestic Trade
and Consumer Affairs in general and specifically
Ministry of Tourism as to the necessity of regu-
lation not only of the accused travel operator but
also the travel industry as a whole. In the absence
of comprehensive precautionary regulations in the
travel industry, in view of the laissez-faire economy
approach taken by the government, the adminis-
trative ADR come to be a good means for the Min-
istry of Tourism to find out where a problem is and
to regulate the travel industry.

that TCC is still much favored by holidaymakers,
most probably due to the cheaper and speedier
method of award as compared to the court-led
mediation and the holidaymakers' ignorance of
the concept of administrative ADR applied in the
National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC).

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author wishes to thank the Research Manage-
ment Institute (RMI) UiTM Shah Alam for fund-
ing this project entitled “The Suitability of Hybrid
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Methods in
Courts and Tribunals (Phase 2)”, under the Princi-
pal Investigator Support Initiative (PSI) grant.

7 CONCLUSION

In the light of the distinct features of the TCC as
discussed above, holidaymakers may turn to the
practice of mediation in courts, or alternatively
rely on administrative ADR. However, the appli-
cation of ADR in TCC can be upgraded with the
modification of the existing features of the TCC. It
is suggested that legal representation in exceptional
circumstances in TCC should be allowed for exam-
ple, where the issue of law arises and where both,
the travel operator and holidaymaker consented to
it. This would facilitate to the application of ADR
in TCC. However, at this juncture, the high statis-
tics on cases pertaining to travel agencies indicate

REFERENCES

Amin, N. & Abu Bakar, E. (2010). ADR for consumers:
An appraisal of the tribunal for consumer claims in
Malaysia. In M.N. Ishan Jan & A.A. Ali Mohamed
(Eds.), Mediation in Malaysia: The law and practice
(pp. 171-185). Kuala Lumpur: Lexis Nexis.
Safei, S. & Chua Abdullah, N. (2013). Mediating claims
in the tribunal for consumer claims: Some considera-
tions . Paper presented at the International Conference
on Consumerism, Equatorial Hotel, Bangi, Selangor,
Malaysia.