The unit will monitor advertising, fight price dumping and regulate online marketing
Regulating bloggers' work in Hajj and Umrah advertising and decisive action against online troll networks
Walid Khalil: Violations have been defined and a penalty schedule approved for each case
The board of the Chamber of Tourism Companies has decided to form a unit within the chamber to regulate the religious tourism market, tackle disorder in the advertising of Hajj and Umrah programs and trips, and limit the activities of unlicensed intruders in this important business. The new unit will come under the chamber's Committee for Combating Illegal Entities, headed by board member Walid Khalil, Vice Chairman of the Religious Tourism Committee, and will include a number of General Assembly members. The board has approved the unit's work regulations.
This comes as part of the chamber board's efforts to organize the Hajj and Umrah market, regulate the advertising market and eliminate any disorder that could harm serious companies, restricting the organization of Umrah trips to licensed travel companies only, in line with the law.
The Religious Tourism Market Regulation Unit is responsible for the following tasks:
Monitoring all advertisements to ensure they comply with technical standards and Umrah or Hajj rules.
Tackling price dumping and ensuring that programs are genuine and can be delivered.
Monitoring companies' dealings with illegal entities in their traditional and new forms.
Combating online troll networks used by some companies or illegal entities, whether for marketing or to defame competitors.
Violations
On the violations defined in the unit's regulations, Walid Khalil, Vice Chairman of the Religious Tourism Committee, said they include:
Advertising unrealistic prices or fake programs in a way that harms companies as a whole.
Advertising programs that violate Umrah and Hajj rules.
Dealing with illegal entities or using any online marketer (blogger or similar) without mentioning the company's name in the advertisement.
Using organized online troll networks to market their programs or defame licensed companies.
Khalil stressed that if any of these violations is committed, several measures will be taken to remove the violation and ensure it is not repeated. He said the chamber's board has approved a schedule of penalties in case the violating company does not comply, and if a company commits multiple violations or does not respond to the committee's warnings, a memorandum of the established facts, supported by documentary evidence, will be submitted to the administrative authority to take the necessary action.
