Action against timeshare touts

Action has been taken against five timeshare promoters this year, Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said in Parliament yesterday.

These promoters, also known as OPCs, were fined a total of Lm2,200.

The minister said the promoters and their employers were fined as follows: Two fines of Lm200 each for failing to properly display their ID documents; two fines of Lm200 each for loitering in front of a shop; a fine of Lm200 for communicating with tourists from inside a car; a fine of Lm200 for tampering with the ID document and a Lm1,000 fine for aggressive behaviour with tourists.

During the same period there were 79 checks on OPCs in Bugibba and Qawra as well as other areas where timeshare is advertised.

The minister recalled that new regulations against inappropriate behaviour by OPCs were issued in May 2006 and up to the end of last year, Lm 5,300 had been collected in fines from 15 different OPCs.

The minister was replying to a question made by Labour MP Evarist Bartolo.

On Monday the minister warned that the government would ban the promotion of timeshare in the streets if timeshare touts continued to pester tourists in defiance of the regulations.