Council: It should be nipped in the bud

JOHOR BARU: Any form of touting should be nipped in the bud to prevent such activities from spreading and harming the country’s image, says the Malaysian Tourist Guides Council.

Its president Jimmy Leong Wie Kong said fortunately, Johor Baru does not have touts preying on tourists at the moment.

“So far, there have been no complaints of tourists getting duped or disturbed by touts at tourist attractions.”

The exception, he said, was the occasional sighting of parking touts – illegal parking attendants who direct vehicles into a parking spot.

When contacted, Leong said that enforcement agencies should quickly deal with the issue of touts in Kuala Lumpur who actively targeted visitors outside a shopping mall.

“They are a nuisance. They mostly target tourists who visit the area to take photos of the Petronas Twin Towers.”

Mohd Syafiq Sulaiman, who would usually frequent the cafes at the Johor Baru city centre, agreed that quick enforcement was an effective way to curb touting.

“I noticed that the presence of parking touts in the area has gone down this year.

“I used to see them around at hotspots such as Jalan Trus, Jalan Dhoby, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee and Jalan Segget.”

Mohd Syafiq, 29, said the presence of enforcement officials had definitely helped to curb the problem.

“Otherwise, these illegal parking attendants will ask for RM3 to RM5 after I park my vehicle in a valid parking spot,” said Mohd Syafiq, who runs an online business.

“Although I am not obligated to pay them, I am worried that if I don’t, they may do something to my car,” he added.

According to a restaurant owner who declined to be named, the local council’s heightened enforcement and town planning had made it difficult for people to park illegally on the roadside.

This had reduced the opportunity for the touts to make money off motorists, she said, adding that her customers were happy about the improvement, too.

“Before this, I would always see two or three touts hanging around near my shop waiting for patrons to park their cars before asking them for money.

“This area is frequently visited by tourists, especially those from Singapore, so they are an easy target for the touts,” she said.

She said that some parking touts could still be seen operating in the evening near Bazaar Karat and hoped that the authorities would look into it.

It was previously reported that 31 illegal parking touts have been arrested by the police in the first half of the year and the Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department was continuously monitoring the situation.