Virtual Travel Fair is Back with More Incentives to Buy Online

Third Virtual Travel Fair Will be Held during Travel Fair Season

Kuala Lumpur, 2 March 2012 – The third Virtual Travel Fair (VTF), organized by SOTA will be held from 15th March to 21st March 2012 in conjunction with the travel fair season. This is to facilitate travel buyers with the additional option of buying travel packages online during the travel fair period.

VTF enables travel buyers to browse and purchase a wide variety of domestic and international travel packages online, with the proposition of ‘No traffic jam, no jostling crowds, no hassle’. The two previous VTFs held in 2011 saw participation from more than 150 travel agents and hotels, offering close to 3,000 travel packages and recorded a total of 32,000 online visitors.From left: En Rohizam Md Yusoff, CEO of Creative Advances Technology with Michael A. Fredericks, Portal Head of allmalaysia.info launching the 3rd Virtual Travel Fair

“With the strong response we had seen from both travel providers and travel consumers for the 2011 VTFs, we are confident we will see a greater response for the VTF this year, especially with a growing trend of online buying,” said Rohizam Md Yusoff, Chief Executive Officer of Creative Advances Technology Sdn Bhd (CAT), the company that developed SOTA, an online travel platform.

At the launch of the 2012 VTF, Rohizam explained the strategic reasons for running the VTF during the regular travel fair period. “We want to help travel providers capitalize on the travel buying season by giving them a wider exposure of their travel packages through an online marketplace. For travel consumers, we hope the VTF will provide them with a more convenient purchase option and easy access to a broader variety of travel packages. It is a win-win for all parties”, he said.

A series of road shows to promote the 2012 VTF has been planned in several cities and states including key cities in East Malaysia. In addition to the many interesting travel packages offered in the VTF targeting families, nature lovers and even budget-conscious travellers, there are also great offers from hotels offering accommodation packages.

According to Joanna Liao, the Chief Marketing Officer of CAT, “VTF goes beyond giving travel consumers greater convenience and options in buying travel packages but also strong incentives to buy online. Apart from the discounted packages offered by travel agencies and hotels, there will be instant online rebates of RM100 for selected packages with a minimum value of RM500 bought during the VTF, for the first 200 online travel buyers”.

A ‘Buy and Win’ contest will also be held during the fair period, with a total of RM6,000 cash prizes to be won for domestic travel packages bought above the value of RM500 and international travel packages above the value of RM1,000 respectively. Other incentives for the online travel buyers include prize-winning vouchers from sponsors and mystery prizes.

Travel buyers can commence buying travel packages on VTF via allmalaysia.info/virtualtravelfair, starting from 15th March 2012. AllMalaysia.info is a SOTA partner in the 2012 VTF.