MATTA forges new oversea collaboration

Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) continues to forge ties with overseas travel associations, this time with the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), by inking a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote tourism between India and Malaysia.

The MoU was signed by TAFI President Praveen Chugh and MATTA President Datuk Hamzah Rahmat. Closer cooperation between TAFI and MATTA may see visitor arrivals from India to Malaysia increased by 20 percent this year, and up to 1.5 million tourists annually by 2020.

The MoU signing was witnessed by High Commissioner of Malaysia to India, HE Dato’ Hidayat Abdul Hamid together with Tourism Malaysia Director, North & East India, Sulaiman Suip.

Hamzah said, “MATTA has always been proactive in promoting and facilitating travel to Malaysia. In recent years, MATTA had forged more than 15 collaborations and partnerships with various travel associations and organisations around the globe to put Malaysia in the world tourism map.”

“Although Malaysia is already one of the most visited country, there is still room to increase visitors from countries with huge population, such as China and India. By 2020, Malaysia should be getting 6 million tourists from China, and the 1.5 million from India is only a minimum, as the population of both countries are about the same. Malaysia’s tourism industry will thrive with the support and consistency efforts from Tourism Malaysia in promoting Malaysia as the top-of-mind destination.”

“MATTA would like to see a more balanced growth of visitors from China and India. As such, the room for growth for India visitors to Malaysia is much bigger, and together, we can make it happen”, concluded Hamzah.