MATTA Fair to be held in mid-March

KUALA LUMPUR: Travel bugs can start planning their holidays as the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Fair 2013 will be held from March 15 to 17.

Organising chairman Jeffri Sulaiman said the fair would be bigger this time, with a total of five halls and exhibition areas at Putra World Trade Centre for exhibitors to exhibit and consumers to shop and get value-for-money deals.

“It will be held at Hall 1, 1M, 2, 3 and Linkway, and we are even looking at expanding into Legar Putra Hall,” he said at Menara Standard Chartered yesterday. He said there would be over 1,100 booths providing special deals for travel and tour packages, hotel accommodation and airlines. “We are expecting over 90,000 visitors with a sales turnover of over RM90mil,” he said.

He said they were expecting a slightly lower sales turnover, compared to the sales turnover of RM106mil for the fair last March, due to the coming general election. Jeffri said they had introduced the online entrance ticket purchase for the first time on www.mattafair.org.my.

Pretty faces: Etihad Airways staff showing the MATTA mobile app.

“We have already sold more than 500 tickets online and we are expecting more to be sold as the event nears,” he said. He added that there would be a dedicated lane at PWTC for people to collect their tickets from 2pm to 6pm on March 14 and from 10am to 9pm on March 15 and 16.

Jeffri said a MATTA mobile app had been introduced for both Android and iPhone users to get information on the fair and other travel-related updates.

Also for the first time, they have introduced a Favourite Destination Partner to give prominence to a particular country. “We have chosen Japan for this fair.”

Jeffri added that the entry forms for the fair's Buyers Contest would be available online this time around. “Customers who have purchased packages during the fair can log in and enter their details at the 40 computers available or they can do it at home,” he said.

Etihad Airways country manager Jeffrey Lim said that as the official airline for the fair, there would be attractive deals up for grabs.

-thestar online.

www.mattafair.org.my