DOT Warns Public Against Non-Accredited Tour Services

Written by Marc Adrian

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has strongly advised the public to transact only with accredited travel and tour agencies and accredited training centers for their travel and booking needs. According to the DOT, non-accredited entities advertising their travel services on social media have been on the rise. The services offered by these unaccredited entities are airline ticketing, travel, and tours arrangement, hotel booking, and training offerings for travel business management.

There are only select training centers that are accredited in offering courses for putting up travel agencies and other tourism-related services. In addition, all tour operators and travel agencies are required to have accreditation before issuance of business permits as mandated by the Tourism Act of 2009. Agencies that are non-compliant will be punished by law.

DOT has released an advisory saying:

“The public is hereby warned to be vigilant in dealing with these entities as there can be no guarantee on the reliability and legitimacy of their products and services.”

For a complete list of DOT-accredited enterprises, the DOT instructs the public to visit www.tourism.gov.ph.

 

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