Malaysian Local Travel Agencies Discontinue Camel Farm Visits Since Last Year

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 (Bernama) -- Local travel agencies offering umrah packages have discontinued offering camel farm visits to pilgrims since last year. Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) president HamzahRahmat said they were simply adhering to the instruction made by the Health Ministry to avoid infection of the Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) among pilgrims. "Normally, travel agencies would only take the pilgrims to pass by, but will not stop at any camel farms. However, if the pilgrims insist, the bus will stop near the farm to enable the pilgrims to look at the camels for a while or about half an hour from inside the bus," he told Bernama when contacted here on Friday. Hamzah said this in response to warning given to travel agencies by Health Ministry deputy director-general Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman last Thursday to discontinue camel farm visits as it could leave the pilgrims vulnerable to MERS-CoV infection. Dr Lokman pointed out that camel farm visits could pose a risk to pilgrims and tourists as they might contact MERS-CoV and if that occurred, the travel agency concerned was responsible for the infection as it had not followed the ministry's guidelines or advice. At present, more than 200 local travel agencies were offering umrah package. --BERNAMA