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Matta Fair: China and Europe Still the Favourites
China, Europe and local island destinations remain the crowd pullers, judging from the three-day Matta Fair 2005 which concluded yesterday.
More than 30,000 visitors thronged the halls of the PWTC here, looking for the best bargains from the 750 booths.
Commenting on the overall performance of the fair, its organising chairman Ngiam Foon said exhibitors were generally happy with the turnout.
"However, we expect the returns to be slightly lower compared with the one we had in March last year," he said, adding that the working weekend could be the reason for the slightly lower turnout.
Ngiam said China and Europe remained popular picks among visitors while domestic tour packages, as always, did well especially for trips to Langkawi and the east-coast islands.
Checks at the domestic tourism halls showed that apart from the Genting group booths, which were crowded from the moment they opened for business, visitors crowded booths offering island tour packages.
Ayu Mayang Resort, Redang, managing director Yap Chuan Bin said he was happy with the turnout of the crowd at the fair.
"This fair is good for tour operators because even if we don`t get that many sales, it helps to create awareness about us," he said.
She said her resort, located at Pantai Cenang, was a popular site due to its good location.
"We allow customers to put a minimum deposit of RM50 for their bookings and pay up later. That way, customers are not pressured to pay up the whole amount immediately," she said.
Visitors Jamil Mohd Ghazali and wife Normiza Abd Wahap bought travel packages for their family at the Matta Fair every year.
The couple, who are supporters of the Malaysia Airlines Golden Holidays package tours, usually took their parents and two children along on their vacation.
"The MAS Golden Holidays package is good value for money and we want to support the national airline," said Jamil, a 36-year-old businessman, who added that the family was going to Bali this time.
He said, however, that he was disappointed with the limited availability of departure dates this year.
The Low family ended up buying two trips at the fair although their original plan was to buy a tour package to Taiwan.
Low Kah Wai, 25, said the affordable trip to the A` Famosa Resort caught his eye while he was going through the Taiwan tour packages.
"We love travelling and after we booked the tickets here, we will explore the fair to plan other trips," he added.
Kuala Lumpur 14/03/2005
