Unauthorised travel agencies operating without renewed licences would face action, warned officials.
Owners of around 50% of the travel agencies across the country did not submit applications and pay the required fees by May 28 which was the last date of submission for the renewal of licences as per a new law enacted last year, according to the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry officials.
Travel operators, however, claimed that they had already submitted applications to the ministry and had paid the fees to continue running their businesses.
Ministry officials said they would take steps against the travel agencies that did not apply for renewal as their activities would be considered unauthorised from the last date of submission onwards.
Additional Secretary of the ministry Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem told the Dhaka Tribune: “The ministry will cancel licences of the travel agencies which did not apply to have theirs renewed as the government will not allow anyone to operate travel business illegally. They will then have to obtain new licences if their existing licences are cancelled.”
The government enacted the Bangladesh Travel Agencies (Registration and Control) Act last year and a gazette notification was issued on November 13 in the same year to implement the law.
The law was implemented from November 28 but the authorities did not take the initiative to enforce it from the date as the Bangladesh Travel Agencies (Registration and Control) Rules could not be prepared by then.
Finally, the ministry took initiative to enforce the law after formulating and publishing the rules on May 19 this year.
The ministry’s Senior Assistant Secretary Nilufar Jesmin Khan issued a notification requesting the travel agencies to submit their application for renewal of the existing licences by May 28.
According to the law and rules, it is mandatory for the existing travel agencies to renew their licenses upon payment of the new fees and charges. Otherwise, the government will have the authority to cancel the licences.
The Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) also issued letters to all their members in order to remind them of the requirement.
ATAB Deputy Secretary General Abdus Salam Aref told the Dhaka Tribune: “All of our members have submitted applications to the government for renewal of their licences as they want to run business legally and without any hassle. The applications were submitted at the outset of this year. They also paid the additional fees later.”
Ministry officials said they had received around 1,500 applications till May 28 and the rest had not yet applied because of their reluctance to pay the additional charges.
At present, there are around 4,000 travel operators in the country while ATAB has around 3,000 members.
According to the new law and rules, the travel operators have to apply for licence after paying Tk5,000 which is the application fee. In addition, to apply for the new licence for three years, an operator must have a bank balance amounting to Tk10 lakh.
The operator will have to pay Tk50,000 to the government treasury as licence fees after getting approval from the authorities concerned. They will also require to pay the government Tk25,000 in renewal fees every year.
In case of renewal, an operator must show an annual transaction worth Tk50 lakh.
