TOURISTS arriving at the Penang International Airport are advised to purchase transport coupons from the official taxi counter there and not take the taxi sapu (pirate taxis).
Penang Tourism Centre chairman Datuk Syed Mohamed Aidid Syed Murtaza said tourists were encouraged to buy taxi coupons from the counter for their own safety.
“Never take free rides. Hospitals will arrange the transport for those who are here on medical tourism. Tour companies who hire taxi sapu will be in deep trouble too,” he said when asked to comment on an incident last month where 40 Indonesian tourists who had just flown into Penang were tricked into boarding eight taxi sapu.
Several drivers holding placards with fictitious names on the pretext of receiving visitors had approached them to ask if they wanted transport.
The vehicles were detained shortly after leaving the airport. The tourists, together with the eight taxi sapu drivers, were taken to the Bayan Lepas police station.
Syed Mohamed was speaking to reporters after a Malaysia-Indonesia-Thailand Tourist Association (Mittas) get-together session attended by about 30 Malaysian and 30 Indonesian travel agents at Cititel Penang on Sunday.
He said the session was for the travel agents to exchange information and expand their networking. Also present at the function was North Sumatra Tourism Board chairman Henry Hutabarat.
News Source: The Star Publication
