KUALA LUMPUR, 1 May 2025: Sabah Tourism Board reports the recent national Matta Fair Kuala Lumpur hosted in Kuala Lumpur delivered a significant increase in holiday consumer sales, recording a booking turnover of around MYR4.5 million, a positive increase of 46% when compared with previous editions of the MATTA Fair.
In its post-show evaluation, the Sabah Tourism Board reported that 43 Sabah travel agents participated in the fair, which was led by the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) as the anchor for promoting the destination in the Sabah pavilion and destination zone at the show.
STB also debuted two local brands from Sabah; Chanteek Borneo showcased various clothing and textile designs with traditional Sabah motifs, while Uinah introduced the health benefits of its refreshing locally crafted drink made from locally sourced ingredients harvested sustainably in Sabah. Both brands received favourable responses from the Matta Fair attendees.
STB CEO, Julinus Jeffery Jimit, attributed the success to the dedication and active participation of Sabah’s tour and travel agencies, which reflects the Sabahan camaraderie in promoting the state’s tourism industry together with STB.
Sabah Tourism continued its strong commitment to enhancing its destination promotional efforts for Sabah in the domestic and international markets, including active participation in major travel events like the Matta Fair. This effort echoes the STB ‘Explore Sabah’ campaign leading to Visit Malaysia Year 2026.
STB’s booth theme, ‘Explore Sabah Dulu Bah,’ encouraged visitors to redeem travel rebate vouchers up to MYR100.00. Every purchase required a minimum MYR600 deposit in a single receipt.
To encourage visitors to choose community-based tourism (CBT) products, additional MYR50.00 travel rebate vouchers per person rather than per package were offered to CBT product buyers.
Julinus also launched Sabah Tourism’s new Augmented Reality Map (AR Map), which is available for both the Sabah Map and the Kota Kinabalu City Map. Users can scan a barcode on the maps to unlock more information about key attractions. The maps offer an interactive experience, complete with helpful guidelines and animations.
This latest promotional material is part of STB’s initiatives to make exploring Sabah a more immersive, engaging and accessible experience.
Physical copies of the map were distributed to attendees at the Matta Fair and are available for download from the Sabah Tourism Board’s official website.
Earlier, in August last year, Sabah Tourism launched a digital careline chatbot called Avantang, which provides round-the-clock access to essential travel information and assistance. This facility is accessible from the Sabah Tourism website, WeChat account or WhatsApp number +6019-9392121 .
For more information on Sabah tourism visit: www.sabahtourism.com
