MATTA OVERSEAS PROMOTION

Whyen we talk of overseas promotion, we are talking about promoting Malaysia abroad. But MATTA is doing just the opposite. They are promoting overseas trips to Malaysians.

In their latest promotion efforts they are asking Malaysians to visit the Gaza Strip via Egypt when the Egyptian authorities reopens the Rafah border crossing next month.

President of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Datuk Mohd Khalid Harun said this was told to him by Egyptian tourism operators' representative and chairman of Star Gold Travel Mohamed El Banna during a meeting here.

"This is also an opportunity for Malaysians to visit Jerusalem. For Muslims performing the Umrah, they will be able to do this, while the Christians can also do the same," he told Malaysian journalists at the end of a MATTA delegation visit to Egypt, here. Jerusalem is a holy site for Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Mohd Khalid is leading the 28-member MATTA delegation on a seven-day visit to Egypt since May 6 to see for themselves the situation in the North African country following the political unrest which broke out on Jan 25.

Mohd Khalid said with the reopening of the Rafah border crossing to Gaza, he expected many Malaysian travel agents to be organising package tours to Egypt. Only Jordan has been offering the opportunity to visit Gaza through that country.

Mohd Khalid said the MATTA visit to Egypt had opened up a lot of opportunities for cooperation between Malaysian tourism operators and their Egyptian counterparts for mutual benefit. "We took the opportunity to promote Malaysia to them. Imagine the returns if 10 per cent of the Egyptian population from the middle-income group visit Malaysia," he added.

Egypt has a population of 82 million, with half of them being middle-income earners.

Mohd Khalid said a MATTA delegation would also be visiting Japan to look at the situation and channel correct information to Malaysians planning to visit that country after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis that hit Japan in March. "We are awaiting feedback on our planned visit from the Japan National Tourism Organisation. This is important as many travel packages to Japan had been cancelled following the calamities."

He said MATTA had also received invitations from tourism operators' associations in Turkey, China, Cambodia, Czech Republic and Uzbekistan to establish bilateral cooperation in tourism.

MATTA is bad news for Malaysian tourism.