Visitors stand to win Dubai package as grand prize

KUALA LUMPUR: Visitors to the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel (MATTA) Fair September 2017 will get a chance to experience Dubai, courtesy of Emirates airline and MATTA.

The five-day, four-night trip is the grand prize for the buyer’s competition event at the fair, in line with the aim of the airline to make Dubai a top destination with Malaysians.

Emirates country manager for Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia Andrew Bunn said that for now, Europe was still the travel destination of choice for many Malaysians, with Britain being one of the most favoured countries.

“While we will see the traditional high-volume destinations doing well as always, (as) the fares are very good, and the frequency and availability (of flights) are also very good, we have seen destinations such as Zagreb doing very well with Malaysians.

“Our goal is to make Malaysia one of the top origin countries into Dubai,” said Bunn.

He was speaking at the press conference yesterday to announce Emirates as official airline for the fair, for the third time.

Bunn said the airline was offering the best fares at the fair, including all-inclusive economy class tickets to Paris and London starting at RM2,449 and RM2,629 respectively, and all-inclusive business class tickets to Paris and London at RM12,959 and RM10,979 respectively.

MATTA immediate past president Datuk Hamzah Rahmat said that Dubai used to be a stopover for Malaysians in the 1960s and 1970s.

“The trend has changed... in the 1970s, flying from Kuala Lumpur to London involved two or three stopovers. Then the era of direct flights came. But now we are back to another era where we are looking at a stopover as a destination by itself, before we reach our actual destination,” said Hamzah.

Visitors who enter the buyer’s competition event will also have the chance to win tickets to Prague, Venice, Zagreb and Paris.

The MATTA Fair September 2017 will be held at Putra World Trade Centre from Sept 8 to 10.

It is open to the public from 10am to 9pm. Admission is RM4 per person per day and free for children below 12.

Official airline: MATTA CEO Phua Tai Neng (left), Bunn (centre) and Hamzah posing with Emirates’ mascot Lewis the Lion and two flight attendants at the press conference.