Rewarding Travellers with Holidays
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- Published on Thursday, 13 April 2017 11:50
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Hamzah (standing centre, in white) celebrates with MATTA Fair March 2017 Buyers‘ Contest winners from both the international and domestic categories at the prize presentation ceremony.
NG CHEE Seng, 53, is bound for a holiday to Hokkaido in Japan, but as luck would have it, this will not be his only upcoming trip.
The business owner from Kuala Lumpur bagged the grand prize of two round-trip Emirates airline economy tickets to London in the international category of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Fair Buyers’ Contest.
“I’ve only been to London once, and that was 20 years ago, so I’m definitely excited to visit this place again,” said Ng.
He purchased a tour package to Hokkaido when he visited the fair last month, which made him eligible for the contest that required a minimum spending of RM300.
“There are so many choices at Matta. It’s a good place to search for better deals, so I visit at least one of the two fairs held each year,” said Ng.
Second prize winner Wong Kim Chong, 46, walked away with a return economy class ticket to Amsterdam while third prize winner Richard Wong Chuen Fun, 58, won a return economy class ticket to Paris. Both flight tickets were also from Emirates airline.
In the contest’s domestic category, 24-year-old Zura Afikah Zulkifli walked away with the grand prize of travel vouchers worth RM5,000.
The vouchers entitled her to choose from the packages sold by Matta members who participated in the fair.
“I came knowing I would win something, but I didn’t expect the biggest prize; when I saw what was written in my winning letter I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“I’m thinking of using the vouchers for a trip to Sabah with my friends,” said Zura.
She purchased a travel package to Pulau Perhentian at Matta Fair and said it was the first time she had opted for a domestic destination.
“I usually look for plane tickets to overseas destinations at the fair,” she added, saying that she has been a regular at the fair for four years now.
The contest’s international category doled out a total of 37 prizes while the domestic category gave away 148 prizes including flight tickets, travel packages and hotel stays.
It garnered a total of 6,148 participants with 36,214 entries and 143,941 entries for domestic and international counters respectively.
Matta Fair March 2017 had an estimated sales turnover of about RM200mil, and recorded over 103,000 visitors over the three-day event.
“These figures show that people want to travel; everyone takes breaks and goes for holidays all year round, be it domestic or international destinations,” said Matta president Datuk Hamzah Rahman.
With increasing demands of domestic travel, Hamzah said this has prompted the fair to divide two prizing categories.
“As such, participants for the contest have also substantially increased compared with the previous fair,” he concluded.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/community/2017/04/13/rewarding-travellers-with-holidays-lucky-travel-fair-customers-win-flights-hotel-stays-and-vouchers/#rWPspjqHcI7tvIx5.99