The agency is one of the legally operating private tourism firms at Pulau Mengalum, a resort island located 56km northwest of Kota Kinabalu.

Ho said the catamaran, carrying 31 people, including 28 Chinese tourists, was not heading to his resort, but to an area where several structures had been built for tourism activities on state land.

Speaking to reporters today, he said the company found there were eight structures built for tourism purposes on government land and they had been operating for the past four years.

“We could not confirm whether the structures built are legal or illegal. We only know boats and tour operators bring tourists there.

“We’ve lodged reports with the police, maritime agency, marine department, and Sabah tourism department on the matter, but no action has been taken so far,” he said.

Elaborating, Ho said the areas where the structures were built did not include public facilities such as proper jetties and toilets. Rubbish was thrown all over the place.

He said some tour operators offered cheaper packages and they sometimes overloaded their boats.

However, Ho feared the image of his resort would be affected as travel operators often used pictures of his resort to promote the island.

He said his company had been operating in Pulau Mengalum for the past 10 years and no untoward incidents had occurred.

He said the incident of the capsized catamaran had affected the company’s operations as tourists who had made reservations at the resort had since begun cancelling them.

In the meantime, he hoped the authorities would take more proactive measures to resolve the problem to avoid similar incidents from occurring in the future.