Apr 30, 2019

MATTA PROMOTES DOMESTIC TOURISM TO BOOST ARRIVALS FROM ASEAN AND INDIA



PUTRAJAYA, 27 APRIL 2019 – The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) is organising the MATTA Travel Exchange Mart (MTEX) 2019 in partnership with Tourism Malaysia from 27 – 28 April 2019 at the Everly Hotel, Putrajaya.

The two-day programme, a Business-to Business (B2B) format, serves as a platform for Malaysian inbound tourism players to sell and market domestic products to outbound tour operators from ASEAN countries including India to inspire more tourists to choose Malaysia as their next holiday destination.

The delegate numbers include 82 sellers from Malaysian companies comprising of tour operators, transport operators, hoteliers and tourism services, along with over 150 buyers from India and ASEAN countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Cambodia.

MATTA President Datuk Tan Kok Liang said, “The MTEX which being held in conjunction with FATA Convention 2019 is significant to the industry as it allows promotion of domestic tourism to over 7,700 travel agencies through its members within the ASEAN region that serves more than 622 million consumers.”

“Last year, Malaysia recorded 18,114,446 million ASEAN visitors compared to 19,443,055 million in 2017. Despite the slight decline in arrivals by (-7.0%), ASEAN arrivals continued to dominate the share of tourist arrivals to Malaysia with a 70.1% contribution. In terms of overall tourist expenditure, the ASEAN region remained the biggest contributor, contributing a total of RM48.5 billion in 2018.”

“The overall decline in tourist arrivals from ASEAN market highlights an urgent need for action. We need to step up our game by improving and enhancing tourism infrastructure and service delivery to attract more visitors to Malaysia. Every state in Malaysia has its unique selling points and we need to leverage on it for effective results.”

Stressing the importance of holding such events, he added, “It is crucial for MATTA members to focus on delivering the best opportunities, creating valuable business connections that will ultimately drive more visitors to Malaysia and develop new tourism products to better compete with other countries, in line with the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign targeting to attract 30 million tourists and RM100 billion in tourist receipts.”

“We are optimistic that this programme will create favourable conditions for the continuous growth of the domestic tourism sector and creating revenue for the country’s tourism industry.”

“At the same event, MATTA will officially kick-start the development of the MATTA Tourism Industry Distribution and Booking Platform through MATTA Technology, designed as a marketplace for the tourism industry to streamline inventory information from supporting sub-sectors and leverage technology for the benefit of the tourism industry.”

“MATTA trusts that this digital initiative will further promote domestic tourism and e-commerce in a bid for Malaysia to remain competitive in the global market.” he concluded.


DATUK TAN KOK LIANG PGDK, M.A Tourism, CA (M), FCTIM, CHA

President MATTA

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