GEORGE TOWN: Tourism Malaysia through Tourism Malaysia Sabah has organised the “My Destination Sabah & Labuan to Penang” programme at The Wembley – A St Giles Hotel The Wembley, Penang today. This programme is an initiative between Tourism Malaysia together with its strategic partners; Sabah Tourism Board (STB), Labuan Corporation, and MATTA Sabah & Labuan Chapters.
The programme aims to provide motivation and ‘tour operator support’ to tourism industry players in Sabah and Labuan to further stimulate the revival of the domestic tourism sector in line with the transition of Sabah and Labuan to Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan. It involves bilateral business-to-business (B2B) meetings between tour operators as sellers to boost the movement of domestic tourism among travellers in the Northern Region.
A total of 26 sellers from Sabah and Labuan consisting of 23 travel agencies, the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC), AirAsia, and Palm Beach Resort & Spa to target 60 to 80 buyers from the Northern Region consisting of government departments and corporate companies. Various packages offered by the sellers are mainly incentive travel, corporate family day programmes, and business travel packages catered for government departments and private agencies.
The packages offered are aimed to attract the interest of the local business community to organise corporate events such as meetings, seminars, conferences, incentive visits and team-building programmes which will indirectly create a network of cooperation between travel agencies and in turn encourage organised holidays in the new normal while contributing to the MICE market segment.
Tourism Malaysia hopes that the implementation of such programmes will help to stimulate and revitalise the domestic tourism industry in Sabah and Labuan as well as to raise the confidence level of domestic tourists from Peninsular Malaysia to choose Sabah and Labuan as their preferred holiday destinations.
Penang Global Tourism hosted a sumptuous welcome dinner at the prestigious Eastern & Oriental Hotel and MATTA Penang will host a full-day sightseeing tour in Penang to Sabah & Labuan delegates respectively. Among the tourist attractions that will be visited include the Peranakan Mansion, Khoo Khongsi and Sun Yat Sen Museum, Clan Jetties, Penang Street Art, City Hall, Penang Hill, and The Habitat.
The event was officiated by Encik Iskandar Mirza Mohd Yusof, Senior Director of Domestic and Events Division, Tourism Malaysia. Also present were Datuk Tan Kok Liang, President of MATTA Malaysia; Mr Oii Chok Yan, Chief Executive Officer of Penang Global Tourism; Ms Tay Shu Lan, Chief Marketing Officer of Sabah Tourism Board; Mr Mohd Faharuddin Hatmin, Director of Tourism Malaysia Sabah; Ms Zunaidah Hamzah, Assistant Director of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Arts Labuan Corporation; Mr Lawrence Chin, Chairman of MATTA Sabah & Labuan Chapters; and Mr Vergis Mathews, Chairman of MATTA Penang Chapter.
