HCM City (VNA) – The Tourism Department of Ho Chi Minh City has decided torevoke the international travel business licence of International Holidays TravelCo., Ltd which provided visa services for 152 tourists who fled in Taiwan(China).

The revocation will last for 12 months, beginning from December 28, Nguyen MinhLy, chief inspector of the municipal Tourism Department said on December 30, adding that the company willalso have to pay an administrative fine of 33 million VND (1,419 USD).

Ly said the business has violated the Tourism Law as it changed the addresswithout informing competent agencies within 15 days, had no written contractswith tourists or their representatives and did not guide tourists under thecontract and tour programme.

According to the department, the company has notprovided relevant documents proving the legality of the signing of the visaservice contract with Taiwan’s ETholiday Company and two other Vietnamesecompanies.

On December 29, Hanoi’s Department of Tourism also said it reclaimed theinternational travel business licence granted to the Golden Travel Trade andTourism Co., Ltd, one of the two companies that signed Taiwan tour contracts forthe 152 tourists.

Hanoi-based Golden Travel Trade and Tourism Co., Ltd, and Twin Bright CompanyLimited referred the 152 Vietnamese tourists, divided into four groups, to HCMCity-based International Holidays Travel Co., Ltd.

ETholiday asked International Holidays Travel Co., Ltd to aid the tourists withtheir visa arrangements. When the tourists failed to show up at their tourdestinations, ETholiday sent a report to police.

ETholiday said it received four groups totalling153 Vietnamese travellers from December 21 to December 23, but by December 23,152 had disappeared from the groups. The only one accounted for at the time wasa 17-year-old boy.

Apart from revoking the company’s licence fornine months, the Hanoi Department of Tourism imposed a 48.5 million VND (2,085)fine on the Golden Travel Trade and Tourism Co., Ltd, due to its violations ofregulations on reporting mechanism, storing documents, making written tourcontracts with tourists, using tour guides without registered licences, andmanaging its tourists.

For the Twin Bright Company Limited’s involvement in the case, thedepartment transferred the case to Hanoi police for further investigation intoits legal representative Le Thanh Tung, who signed the contract withInternational Holidays Travel CO., Ltd but said he did not know the purpose ofthe signing of the contract.
Furthermore, TwinBright Company Limited’s registered business licence deals with advertisementand communications, not international travel activities.

Eleven out of the 152 Vietnamese tourists whowent missing in Taiwan were detained by the local authorities forinvestigation, according to the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei.

Three were detained by police as they areaccused of violating laws on Anti-Human Trafficking, Immigration and LabourCode of Taiwan (China).

Taiwanese authorities said that investigationinto the case is underway.-VNA