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View all search resultsDigital service can prevent 'umrah' scandal
At the first tier, the ministry would reserve the right to collect all future pilgrims’ data from all umrah travel agents when pilgrims register themselves and pay the fees.
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Seeking justice: Several victims of travel company First Travel's umrah travel scam attend the follow up hearing of the case at the Depok District Court in West Java on March 5. (Tribunnews.com/Fransiskus Adhiyuda Prasetia )
T
he rising middle class population and consumption shift in the predominantly Muslim and young democratic Indonesia in the past decade have led to increased domestic consumption, including the demand for leisure and religious travel.
Noble intentions coupled with strong economic capacity provide a lucrative business opportunity for religious travel. The number of umrah, or minor pilgrimage, travel agents has grown tremendously, offering innovative bundling packages with haj and leisure trips to neighboring Muslim or predominantly Muslim countries like Morocco, Egypt and Turkey.
However, like in many other industries, unfettered industrial regulation can trigger fraud. Though most umrah travel agents have played by the rules fairly, consumers were still shocked by the embezzlement cases involving First Travel, reportedly amounting to Rp 8 billion (US$560,000), and Abu Travel, reaching Rp 1.8 trillion.
It is high time for the government to step up to ease consumers’ anxiety. Determining a price floor for umrah does not necessarily solve the problem since it incentivizes umrah travel agents to reap bigger margins from consumers without giving better services, and hurts new and trustworthy travel agents that offer low prices to disrupt existing players.
