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In recent years, with increased public interest in travelling and vacationing both abroad and locally, travel fairs have become the craze, with numerous associations and parties jumping on the band wagon and organising their own versions. At its peak (2005), there were as many as three different organisations holding a total of four travel fairs over the course of a year. Three of these were spaced weeks apart, giving a broad variety of choice to the general public. However, it also caused some confussion as well as dilluted the market. It got to a point where there was no longer any sense of urgency or thrill in hunting down the best bargains. Afterall, why rush when there’s another Travel Fair coming up next month?

Realising the state of the public’s mindset, MATTA and MCTA have consolidated their individual travel fairs and will be jointly organising the first ever MATTA-MITM Fair a week from today. The fair is tauted to be the biggest of its kind in Malaysia. However, inspite of its size and joint organisation, there has been little to no publicity on the event. Advertisements and public announcements have been few and far between. Is this a sign that the MATTA-MCTA alliance is meeting some internal resistance? Or has the fair been overshadowed by the very recent MAS Travel Fair?

MATTA-MITM Fair March 2006

MATTA-MITM Fair March 2006 will be held at Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur. The fair will occupy a total of six halls, comprising of Halls 4, 3, 2 and 1 (1A, 1B, and 1C). It is expected that there will be about 800 travel agents and exhibitors participating in the event. Although the official numbers have yet to be announced, the layout of the exhibition halls have been finalised. Halls 1 and 2 will be for International Travel Packages, while Halls 3 and 4 will play hosts to agents exhibiting Domestic, ASEAN, and Travel Related Services and Products. In addition to the exhibitions, a number of educational events, performances, and competitions will also be held throughout the course of the travel fair. Hall 1 will be the venue for these side show attractions. Please take note of the venues to avoid congestion.

As with previous years, VISA is the preferred card for the event, so make sure you’ve cleared out your debts before then if you’re interested to make purchases and reservations via credit.

An alternative to going to the fair itself woud be to head on over to the sales offices of participating travel agents. While most claim to only give the MATTA-MITM Fair rates at the fair itself, they are usually more than happy to oblidge you if you call or turn up in person. No one in their right mind would turn business away.

Anyway, I’ve got my plans ready. I’ll be visiting the fair just to check things out and see what’s the grand difference. I hope to zip in, hunt down the bargains, and keeping my fingers crossed that I will make it out before being crushed by the mob. Hopefully, I’ll survive to see sunlight. How about you? Have you made your plans yet? If not, you’ve got another week to go. See you there, I suppose ;)