Matta Fair Penang nets RM32.5 mln sales

GEORGE TOWN: The recently concluded sixth Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Ma a) Fair in Penang recorded sales of RM32.5 million.

The turnover registered at the Malaysia’s largest travel fair held at the Setia SPICE Arena from Oct 11 to 13 was about RM900,000 higher than the carnival held in September last year, but was RM9.11 million less than that of April this year.

Matta secretary-general Nigel Wong said the focused market for the second biennial Matta Fair in Penang was different from the carnival held earlier.

He said while most visitors to the previous fair purchased tour packages for a peak travel season, this time around the visitors were after off-peak season, domestic and on spur-of-the-moment travel packages.

“Normally, the fair held in the first half of the year has higher sales than the one in the second half and the same goes to Matta fairs held in Kuala Lumpur,” he told Bernama.

Wong said the number of visitors at the recent Penang Matta Fair dropped from 35,045 in April to 32,450 in

October due to the soft market and change of venue.

He said the venue for the recent fair was fully booked with all the 296 booths taken up and Matta had to reject many applications.

Hence, he said Matta is looking for potential locations in Penang for future travel fairs.

“The date for the next fair (in Penang) has not been fixed yet, but we expect to have more variety of tour packages, a lot more destinations, as well as a larger venue, if possible, to accommodate more booths,” he added. — Bernama