Langkawi To Host PATA Travel Mart 2018

LANGKAWI, June 30 (Bernama) -- Hardly a year of being admitted as a member of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) has been given the honour to host PATA Travel Mart 2018.

Lada chief executive officer Datuk Azizan Noordin said that the event would be an impetus to propel Langkawi to the next level of tourism development.

"Since we need to push Langkawi to the next level, we collaborated with Tourism Malaysia and the Tourism and Culture Ministry to bid for PATA Travel Mart 2018, and we got it, " he told Bernama.

He said the event was tentatively scheduled for three consecutive days from Sept 12, 2018 at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC), the venue of the biennial Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) exhibition.

"We foresee that about 3,000 people will be coming to the Travel Mart, including exhibitors, buyers, media, government representatives, and from the PATA Secretariat, " he added.

Azizan said a number of forums would be held during the Travel Mart, featuring speakers from around the world, including Malaysia who would make presentations on Langkawi as a geopark destination, as well as other tourism attractions in the country.

He said as part of the preparations, LADA would send delegates to this year´s PATA Travel Mart in Macao on Sept 13-15.

"From Langkawi alone, 10 private companies will participate (at the Macao Travel Mart). They are going on their own expenses, but we're going to provide them the platform to carry out their promotions, " he said.

LADA also plans to organise the PATA ASEAN Inter-Chapter conference, scheduled end of July, which would involve 60 delegates from all ASEAN countries to forge better networking ahead of the PATA Travel Mart next year.

"I've seen that those who have hosted PATA events would eventually enjoy good (publicity and promotional) coverage internationally, getting support schemes to build up new products and financial support for specific tourism projects, " he added.

-Bernama.