Kuala Lumpur, 18 March 2021 – The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) welcomes the announcement by PM on the various stimulus initiatives especially on the new approach towards the easing of travel restrictions.
MATTA has long been advocating the application of an analytical risk-based approach based on scientific data towards managing people's movement as opposed to blanket travel restrictions. This is a positive step forward to rejuvenating domestic travel.
“MATTA has been in constant engagement with the government since the start of the pandemic and we are happy that the announcement is in line with MATTA’s proposal. This shows the strong relationship between the government and the private sector which is key to tourism recovery. We hope these initiatives would help more than 5000 travel agents get through this tough time.
“The industry is also looking forward to the managed reopening of international borders now that the vaccine rollout is underway.”
“MATTA’s other proposals on financial assistance have also been acknowledged and we thank the government for its gesture of goodwill on the RM 3K grant and tax relief for travellers buying tour packages from licensed travel agents.”
“Other tourism reliefs we believe is a recognition by the government that we will take some time to recover and we welcome the easing of cash flows. However, we will continue to engage with the government on regular basis to review these initiatives to further assist the travel and tour industry”
DATUK TAN KOK LIANG PGDK, M.A Tourism, CA (M), FCTIM, CHA
President MATTA
Term 2019 – 2021