Making M’sia a top choice, no MATTA what

KUALA LUMPUR: The second series of the MATTA Fair 2018 aims to not just attract travel buffs and sell tourism products, but to also help boost Malaysia’s rating as a tourism destination.

With the tagline “Buy Smart, Travel Great at MATTA Fair”, Malaysia’s largest consumer travel fair was launched by Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi, who commen­ded the Malaysian Association Of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) for their role in ramping up tourism via such events.

He said MATTA Fair 2018 brought tourism industry players and consumers under one roof and to help promote tourism to both local and foreign consumers.

“It is truly an achievement for MATTA to gather more than 250 tourism-related companies, with 1,336 booths in seven halls at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC).

“The government is really satisfied and proud of MATTA and its efforts. We will be giving strong support to MATTA in every step,” he added.

Mohamaddin also expressed his wish to see Malaysia carve a place in the world’s top 10 tourism destinations from 12th place in 2017.

Towards this end, MATTA president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said the body came up with several strategies and would be working closely with the ministry and industry players.

“We have our foreign missions in place. Packaging with airlines and collaborating hoteliers are also some of the steps that MATTA will take to make Visit Malaysia 2020 a success.

“The ministry, MATTA and other industry players are all interconnected and interdependent with each other. We must work hand in hand,” said Tan.

Seeing how the first series of the MATTA Fair 2018 in March recorded 110,000 visitors with total sales of RM210mil, it showed how such events are contributing to the industry.

“For this edition, we are expecting about the same turnout with target sales up to RM220mil,” he said.

In this series of the MATTA Fair 2018, Sarawak has returned as “Malaysia’s Favourite Destination” for the second time while Taiwan is “Asia’s Favourite Destination”.

A total of 138 prizes to local destinations and 32 prizes to international destinations will be up for grabs, with the total cost valued at more than RM150,000.

For every admission ticket, Tan said RM1 would be donated to Tabung Harapan Malaysia.

Visitors are encouraged to take public transport to PWTC where the fair is held.

Those taking the LRT will have the chance to redeem cash vouchers at the Sunway Putra Mall’s promotion booth at the PWTC LRT station.

Grab Malaysia is also offering RM5 off for two rides to or from PWTC during the fair via GrabPay, using the promo code MATTAKL18 for the first 1,000 rides daily.

Today is the last day of the MATTA Fair. Doors will open from 10am to 9pm and admission is at RM4 per person and free for children below 12.