MTA steps up checks on unlicensed timeshare reps

The Malta Tourism Authority's enforcement directorate and the police have stepped up inspections to check on unlicensed outside promotional contacts representatives, or OPCs, and to curb harassment of tourists by timeshare salesmen, the authority said yesterday.

In the course of these inspections the MTA said a number of timeshare marketing companies utilised the services of unlicensed OPCs. It said legal action has been and will continue to be taken against such offenders.

The MTA reminded marketing companies and operators of timeshare resorts of the provisions of Legal Notice 299 of 2004 - Timeshare Promotion (Licensing of OPC Representatives) Regulations 2004 - which provides for the licensing of OPC representatives and the regulation of the conduct of such persons when they make contact with prospective buyers as part of a marketing campaign for the offer of immovable property on a timeshare basis or other equivalent.

Since the coming into force of these regulations, the MTA said it has processed over 75 applications for licences for OPCs.

The MTA said it noticed a welcome change in tourists' attitudes in the sense that properly licensed and identifiable OPCs are generally no longer being viewed with distrust by foreign visitors.