The Zoo Melaka team drawing visitors to their booth.
Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) organised a “Jom Cuti-Cuti Malaysia” domestic tourism fair in conjunction with its 50th anniversary.
The two-day event at Pavilion Bukit Jalil exhibition centre in Kuala Lumpur featured 150 exhibitors from hotels, resorts and other tourism attractions nationwide.
“This tourism fair aims to make luxury stays more accessible to the Malaysian public by providing a platform where locals can discover the best hotels, resorts and travel products for their next staycation,” said organising chairman and MAH vice-president Datuk Khoo Boo Lim in his speech during the opening ceremony.
He said the event also aimed to promote domestic tourism and ensure that the local tourism industry would remain affordable and accessible to Malaysians.
(From third left) Yeoh, Khoo and Tourism Malaysia director-general Manoharan Periasamy at the domestic tourism fair in Bukit Jalil. — Photos: YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
Also present was Tourism Malaysia deputy chairman Datuk Yeoh Soon Hin, who highlighted how Malaysia had much to offer local travellers.
He revealed that in 2023, there were 213.7 million visitors generating RM84.9bil in receipts, an increase of 24.6% visitors and 32.5% in receipts compared to the previous year.
“Our goal for 2024 is to achieve RM88bil in receipts.
“As of the first quarter of this year, we have already achieved 25% of our target,” added Yeoh.
Multicultural percussion performance entertaining fair visitors.
The fair, also supported by Tourism Malaysia, featured various promotions from vendors to destinations like Kota Kinabalu in Sabah; Alor Setar in Kedah; Melaka; Port Dickson in Negri Sembilan; and Johor Baru.
Adding colour to the event was a multicultural percussion performance with traditional instruments including the Malay gendang, Indian dhol and Chinese shigu.
Following the opening ceremony, Khoo also joined Musicians for Musicians Malaysia to sing Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday and Rod Stewart’s I Don’t Want To Talk About It.
More travel fairs by MAH are coming up, including Bazaar Cuti-Cuti Malaysia in Penang and a fun run in Port Dickson, both slated for September.
