Travel agents coming to KL

The 46th United Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTAA) Congress will be held in Malaysia next year from Nov 17 to 22. UFTAA president Mario Bevacqua and Malaysia Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) president Datuk Mohd Khalid Harun said UFTAA board of directors reached the decision after a three-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur recently.

He said MATTA would set up a team with Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Association of Hotels to draw up the details of the event that would be attended by travel agents from all over the world. “It’s an honour for us to host the event. Furthermore, it will be a good start leading to Visit Malaysia Year in 2013.

An honour: Bevacqua (left) and Mohd Khalid announcing that the UFTAA Congress 2012 will be held in Malaysia from Nov 17 to 22.

“We haven’t decided on the venue but it will be in Kuala Lumpur,” he said. MATTA hosted the congress nine years ago, in 2002, and Mohd Khalid was confident that the event next year would benefitl the carriers, hoteliers and retailers. It would be a perfect opportunity to introduce Malaysia to the delegates to promote the country to the global population, so visits to tourist destinations East and West Malaysia would be organised. Among the topics discussed in the convention would be green tourism, visa policies, security, and other common issues related to the tourism industry.

Bevacqua explained that UFTAA was an international organisation with about 100 national travel agents associations as members. “The UFTAA Congress 2011 will be held in a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea from Nov 19 to 24,” he said.

-thestar online.