Fantasy Tours had fallen behind on the payment of its annual licence fees in the past three years but its licence to operate was renewed anyway, a spokesman for the Malta Tourism Authority has confirmed.

According to the authority’s policy, as soon as an invoice for the payment of the licence fees due is issued, businesses have their licences auto-matically renewed, even if the fees remain unpaid.

The spokesman was replying to a set of questions to confirm whether Fantasy Tours, which let down hundreds of would-be travellers with late cancellations of booked holidays, had not paid its annual licence fee for the last three years. Sources said the amount due for pending licences is in the region of €4,000. “The company responsible for Fantasy Tours has arrears on payments for the renewal of licences. However, this is only of financial concern, as once the authority issues an invoice for the settlement of payment, the establishment is to be considered licensed,” the authority spokesman said when contacted yesterday.

Investigations into the cancellation of bookings continued yesterday as more people filed police reports against the Valletta-based company. The police are expected to proceed against the company for misappropriation.

Sources close to the investigation said the police have already questioned a company official over payments made for holidays that never materialised. The person was questioned and released on police bail, the sources added, and charges are expected to be filed this week. According to the company registry of the Malta Financial Services Authority, the person responsible for Fantasy Tours, which also operates under Golden Travel Club Limited, is Karl Azzopardi, who lives in Mellieħa.

Contacted yesterday, Iain Tonna, the president of the Federated Association of Tourism and Travel Agencies said the organisation was closely following the recent developments involving Fantasy Tours.

“They’re not our members but as with anything in this industry, one bad operator affects other operators too. The alarm bells had been ringing for quite some time but nothing was done from the regulatory point of view,” he said.

Meanwhile, Flyaway Tours said yesterday it would honour any services booked through Fantasy Tours or Golden Travel Club for which official Flyaway Tours vouchers had been issued.

“Official vouchers are always issued by Flyaway Tours for any services booked and confirmed through Flyaway Tours. These vouchers are the only formal documentation accepted by the ultimate service providers in exchange for the booked services,” the company said.

It called on clients in possession of such vouchers to contact Flyaway Tours directly to reconfirm the validity of their vouchers.

The company cancelled tours via text messages last week, hours after urging customers who had booked holidays to also pay up for excursions. Some clients said they had paid more than €3,000 for a holiday that never happened. Others complained they had spent thousands of euros on flights, accommodation and even cruises.

Until a day before the SMS was sent, the company’s offices were still accepting holiday bookings.