BERLIN, 10 March 2023: The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) signed Memorandums of Understanding with three European Tour and Travel Agency Associations during ITB Berlin, 7 to 10 March.
It achieves a new level of cooperation between Malaysian tourism stakeholders and their European counterparts.
MATTA President Tan Kok Liang and the presidents of the following European travel trade associations signed memorandums:
• Anne-Marjut Väänänen, president of the Association of Finnish Travel Industry (SMAL)
• Pawel Niewiadomski, president of the Polish Chamber of Tourism (PIT)
• Kulli Karing, president of the Estonian Travel and Tourism Association (ETFL)
The signing was witnessed by:
• HE Dr Adina Kamarudin (Ambassador of Malaysia to the German Republic);
• The Honorable Christina Liew (Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah);
• The Honorable Loh Tze Yee (Perak State Executive Council of Tourism, Industry, Investment and Corridor Development);
• The Honorable Hee Loy Sian (Selangor State Executive Council of Tourism & Environment)
The memorandums place sustainable tourism as the centre of future growth and also focus on enhancing consumer awareness of Malaysia as a safe and attractive holiday destination in Polish, Finnish and Estonian outbound travel markets.
This agreement with the global travel agency associations builds on existing collaboration between the organisations to keep geared towards restoring consumer travel confidence.
“I am excited to work very closely with our European counterparts to further develop inbound travel potential into Malaysia. We will be developing new marketing and communication strategies to meet the demands for high-value tourism products,” said MATTA president Tan Kok Liang.
“Southeast Asia is inexpensive for European travellers, but costly airfares and limited connectivity hinder travel. They are the biggest obstacles for those looking to travel to our region. We hope this renewed interest in Malaysia and the region will encourage airlines to establish more direct routes”.
MATTA has participated independently at ITB Berlin since 2018 and has negotiated several Memorandums of Understanding with counterparts from high-potential source markets. It is also a member of the European Travel Agents and Tour Operators’ Associations (ECTAA)
“Our participation in ITB Berlin and our commitment to the European market strongly underlines our sustainable tourism strategy, which we believe will be key to the future of our nation, its people and our economy in the long term,” the MATTA president added.
