Over 2,000 illegal travel agencies exist

More than two thousand travel agencies are working in the country without any registration or government approval, The Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (Atab) said.

The government did not take any action although a list of over 200 such agencies was submitted to the government, leaders of the association said at a press conference yesterday.

Atab President M A Mohaimen Saleh addressed the conference while General Secretary Ghulam Mostafa and other leaders responded to questions from the newsmen.

Illegal travel agents and intelligence agencies working at Zia International Airport might be involved in human trafficking but none of the genuine travel agencies were involved in such malpractice, they said.

The Atab leaders demanded making Atab membership mandatory for all travel agents, which would help in taking legal action against illegal activities by any agents and bringing transparency in the sector.

Out of 1667 agents registered with the government, only 850 are Atab members, they said.

Most of the illegal travel agencies are located in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet districts, Atab leaders said, adding that in Sylhet, the travel agency business has reached to the upazila level.

Many of them do not have any trade licence, let alone travel agency licence, they said, adding that issuing licences without considering the educational and business background of the persons concerned is responsible for the mushrooming of travel agencies in the country.

Atab President Mohaimen said although a high powered meeting chaired by the civil aviation minister decided to make the Atab membership mandatory for all travel agents, it was suspended by another meeting chaired by the secretary of the same ministry.

Following the Mediterranean and Mauritania tragedies, indiscriminate police actions have created panic among the genuine travel agents, said Atab General Secretary Ghulam Mustafa.

He demanded an end to such action.

Atab's 15-point demands to the government include closing down all the illegal travel agents, regular monitoring of activities of genuine travel agents, considering educational background while issuing new licences, ending harassment of passengers at the airports and ending police harassment of the genuine agents.

Source: The Daily Star