PATA Travel Mart sees growth in buyers

FROM IRANGIKA Range in Malaysia Courtesy:

PATA Travel Mart 2005 (PTM05) opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Wednesday with a total of 375 global buyers, representing 339 organisations from 54 countries on hand to meet 704 seller delegates representing 307 travel organisations from 37 countries. The chief guest was the Minister of Tourism in Malaysia Dr. Leo Michael Toyad.

The Minister said after 1986, it was pleased to welcome the PATA Travel Mart back to Malaysia, the first major travel event at the newly-opened, high-tech and strategically located Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

The Minister said that the arrival of 15.7 million last year and the 9.94 million tourists for the first seven months of this year have placed Malaysia as the second most popular destination in Asia after China.

Also, Malaysia received USD 7.2 billion, making tourism the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country in 2004.

Whilst they are pleased with figures, continuous efforts are being taken to work on new market segments.

This includes MICE and the market for niche tourism like health tourism, education tourism, agro-tourism, eco-tourism, homestay and Malaysia My Second Home.

PATA President and CEO Peter de Jong said that the PATA's continued successful repositioning of the Mart and strong strategic support from Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines as contributors to the success of the 2005 Mart.

"This year we've seen continued growth in buyers who are the people who send business and tourists to Asia Pacific. The Mart has also grown in stature with both buyers and sellers stressing the Mart's first-rate networking environment. The Russia, China and India sessions were sold out and all corporate sponsorship options taken up."

He also said buyers and sellers at the opening reception last night that there had been a record number of international arrivals to Asia Pacific last year.

Malaysia, welcomed nearly 16 million international visitors in 2004.

"PATA's Strategic Intelligence Centre predicts that in 2006, international arrivals to Malaysia will break the 20 million mark. Malaysia's and the region's overall success is to be celebrated," he said.

"However, we must also reach out to our colleagues and counterparts who continue to struggle to recover to normal levels of business in the aftermath of the December 26, 2004 quake and tsunami.

"I would urge every delegate to reserve some time over the next three days to visit the sellers from the affected destinations."

There is an 8.7% increase in buyer delegates, representing 20% more countries.

On the seller side there was strong growth in representation from Australia, India, the Maldives and, as to be expected, Malaysia. There are 134 media delegates from 97 media organisations from 27 countries.

There are 42 buyer-seller appointments this year, up from 38 last year. All the space in the four exhibition halls of the brand new Kuala Lumpur Exhibition Hall in the city centre of the Malaysian capital was utilised.

The Mart includes three special workshops on Russia, China and India - the three source markets that will drive much of the tourism growth to Asia Pacific for decades to come.

The PATA Travel Mart is the leading networking and contracting show for the Asia Pacific travel industry.