Travelers can now preview travel packages on offer at upcoming Matta Fair

KUALA LUMPUR: Travelers and adventure seekers can now have a preview of travel packages that will be offered during the upcoming Matta Fair.

Over 450 packages from up to 100 travel agents would be catalogued online, on www.matta.travel, provided by Smart Online Travel Assistant (Sota).

Sota CEO Joanna Liao said the site allows travelers to look at what is on offer during the Matta Fair, which would be held from Sept 2-4 at the Putra World Trade Centre.

"The site also allows smaller agents to offer unique and niche packages like caving, traveling to Uzbekistan or Boracay. "Such niche packages would be harder to find at the actual fair itself so the site makes it easier for travelers to target their desired travel packages and purchase them at the Matta Fair," she said at a recent press conference.

Liao said that while browsing through the travel packages, consumers could email participating agents directly to request for more information or to make requests for customised packages.

"By bringing together multiple agents onto a single online platform, consumers benefit from the ability to access a wider variety of travel packages whilst having the assurance that they are dealing with legitimate and licensed travel agents."

Matta chief executive officer (CEO) Phua Tai Neng said all packages on the website are offered by tour agencies that were registered under the Tourism and Culture Ministry. "So there isn't any worry of fraud," he added. He also said they were expecting more than 100,000 visitors with a total sales of RM200 million.

Also present at the press conference were Matta secretary-general Nigel Wong, Themed Attractions Resorts & Hotels Sdn Bhd (TAR&H) chief marketing officer Philip Whittaker and Legoland Malaysia marketing director Thila Munusamy. Meanwhile, Whittaker said TAR&H would be offering up to 40 per cent discounts on tickets and passes for Puteri Harbour indoor attractions in Johor and KidZania in Kuala Lumpur. 

Also in conjunction with the Matta Fair, families can enjoy discounted rates at Legoland Malaysia Resort of up to 40 per cent off on the family package and in anticipation of the park's latest attraction, Lego Ninjago: The Ride. "The package includes accommodation at Legoland Hotel, buffet breakfast and two days combo tickets for five people. "We also have up to 35 per cent discount on annual passes, giving visitors unlimited entries for 12 months," she said.
-nst online.

Time to travel

MORE TRAVEL CHOICES: Rohizam Md Yusoff (left) and Creative Advances Technology Sdn Bhd chief marketing officer Joanna Liao promoting the fifth Virtual Travel Fair during a press briefing in Bandar Utama.

PETALING JAYA: Online travel platform, SOTA (Smart Online Travel Assistant) will hold its fifth Virtual Travel Fair (VTF) beginning next Wednesday (March 13) until March 29.

The bi-annually held event will feature a wider variety of travel deals for consumers this time around with 5,000 travel packages and 150,00 hotel choices spanning more than 60 countries.

Noteworthy deals which will be available at the upcoming VTF include a 3D/2N trip to Universal Studios Singapore and Johor Legoland; a 7D/6N trip to Jeju province of South Korea; and various Umrah packages.

Existing SOTA passport members stand the chance to become one of three winners for a one night stay at Anggun Boutique Hotel in Kuala Lumpur worth RM340 by registering for the upcoming VTF from today until March 12.

Newly registered SOTA passport members will also have the opportunity to win prizes in the form of a pair of movie tickets via daily lucky draws if they sign up within the same period.

In addition, buyers who spend a minimum of RM100 on hotel stays or travel packages on VTF will be in the running to win a 3D/2N stay at Macau (inclusive of flight tickets and accommodation) worth RM7,000.

Rohizam Md Yusoff, chief executive officer at Creative Advances Technology Sdn Bhd, the developer behind SOTA, said that one of the reasons for organising VTF was to encourage an industry-wide adoption of information technology. "Many are not able to break through in this new digital economy and have lost their earnings," he said at SOTA's announcement of the fifth VTF to the media.

Rohizam explained that SOTA's Hotel Allocation System was commission free, setting it apart from other online travel agent websites which typically required a hefty commission from travel agencies for the use of their services. He said this could range anywhere between 15% to 25% in most cases.

"With SOTA's cloud based approach, we are able to reduce such costs. Now, our model only charges travel agents US$1 (RM3) per inquiry whereas hotels are charged US $2 (RM6) per booking," Rohizam said. Besides this, agents seeking to use SOTA's services would also need to pay a setup cost of US$100 (RM300) when first subscribing to the service.

Presently, SOTA's services are being used by over 1,500 travel agents and hotel partners across 46 countries.

Rohizam was optimistic about the expected response from the public for the fifth VTF. He said that SOTA had experienced a 100% increase in unique visitors and a 200% increase in the number of inquiries with every subsequent VTF.

SOTA's fourth VTF, which was held in September last year, recorded a total of 70,000 online visitors, with about 2,600 visitors per day. "Consumers are more confident now and they see a good reason to use online resources for travel," Rohizam added.

-thestar online.
http://virtualtravelfair.allmalaysia.info/
http://www.sota.travel/