The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has joined forces with the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) to develop a B2B and a B2C booking platform to help members better compete in the digital marketplace, one of its recent partnerships forged with trade associations.
Through the platform, MAH hotel members will provide inventory for MATTA member agents to purchase at competitive rates.
MATTA president, KL Tan, said: “This collaboration with MAH will benefit both parties. It will allow hotels and agents to compete more effectively with OTAs. Hotel inventory will also be more widely available to the 3,200 odd MATTA members and at good rates. The booking platform will empower agents to sell directly to consumers through the B2C platform. Eventually the system will incorporate the sale of tour packages as well as tickets to attractions and events.”
The platform, focused on promoting inbound and domestic travel, is timely as tourism industry players prepare for Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign, a national initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia which is expected to generate 36 million tourists and RM168 billion in tourism receipts.
On the development of the booking platform, Tan said: “We are collaborating with the National ICT Association of Malaysia for the design, development and operation. We hope to kick start the project by mid 2018 and for the platform to be operational in early 2019.”
Separately, MATTA has also partnered the Association of Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) to boost visitor arrivals to Malaysia and Indonesia.
Tan said: “With more than 50 flights per week between Malaysia and Indonesia, MATTA and ASITA will be able to promote both countries as a single destination for longhaul markets. Such arrangement can be brought to a new level due to better air connectivity between both countries.”
Moreover, with Indonesia being Malaysia’s second top visitor source market contributing over 2.7 million arrivals last year, MATTA aims to grow the number to 3.4 million by 2020.