MATTA fair will focus on domestic tourism

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (Matta) Fair to be held from March 13 to 15 at Putra World Trade Centre will focus on domestic tourism.
In line with this year’s Tourism Malaysia theme “Year of Festivals”, the fair with nearly 450 booths will promote domestic packages.
“We look to promoting more domestic destinations like Sabah and Sarawak on a larger scale,” said Matta Fair organising Chairman Jayakumar Sannadurai.
Despite security concerns in Sabah and Sarawak, he said, there is no big problem that should deter tourists from visiting.
Sabah’s east coast has had a sea curfew from July last year which was extended last week to March 14 in efforts to ensure the safety of tourists, fisherman and the locals.
“The security issue in Sabah and Sarawak is very subjective, these were micro incidents that were highlighted and blown up internationally. It is generally safe to travel there,” said Jayakumar.
He said there has been a steady growth in Chinese tourists to the country since the government loosened their visa requirements but said that it will take some time to grow further.
“Whenever we implement something, there is always a period of time for it to grow. We saw an increase in Chinese tourists over the Chinese New Year period,” said Jayakumar at a press conference.
Earlier, Jayakumar announced that “Tourism Selangor” will take up booths at the fair to promote tourism in the state in line with its ‘Visit Selangor Year 2015’ campaign in February and targets to get 7 million visitors to the state with focus nature, sports and heritage.
“Selangor has everything from waterfalls to vast forests, national parks and world class sports facilities” said Jayakumar adding that these factors will definitely be a plus point for ‘Visit Selangor Year’.
He also announced that Berjaya Sompo Insurance Berhad will be the fair’s official Insurance partner.
“Travel insurance is very important, the public only thinks about it when something happen. Insurance is very important in case a traveller gets sick, misses a flight and loses luggage,” added Jayakumar.
Jayakumar said they expect some 90,000 people at the fair this year and look to increasing their total sale from last year’s figure of RM133million to RM138million.