A former Ontario travel agency owner faces jail time for defrauding consumers who bought religious travel packages.
Mohamed Hachemi Bensaci, the former director of Holy Destinations Travel Inc., has been sentenced to 18 months in jail and ordered to pay $436,500 in restitution, the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) said in a press release on Thursday.
Holy Destinations Travel Inc. was fined $35,000 after pleading guilty to a combined total of 59 offences under the Travel Industry Act, 2002.
Holy Destinations Travel Inc. operated as a registered travel agency in Ontario from 2019 until its registration was revoked by TICO on July 26, 2023, following consumer complaints, TICO said.
Holy Destinations Travel, at 1950 Merivale Rd. in Ottawa, is listed on Google as temporarily closed.
The agency, which specialized in Islamic pilgrimages such as Hajj, was accused of collecting consumer payments without delivering the travel services consumers purchased. Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims.
In 2022, the Saudi Arabian government mandated that Hajj travel packages for North Americans be sold exclusively through a government portal, preventing travel agencies from offering them.
TICO said that, despite this, Holy Destinations continued selling Hajj packages in 2023 to unsuspecting consumers.
In total, 41 customers had combined losses of $436,500, TICO said. In some instances, the Travel Industry Compensation Fund reimbursed consumer complainants for a portion of their losses, totalling $142,000.
This case underscores the importance of booking travel with a TICO-registered travel agency, booking website or tour operator, TICO said.
