Sabah Chief Minister l  STPC Chairman l MATTA President l Project Chairman

Address by
Tunku Dato Seri Iskandar bin Tunku Abdullah
President, Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA)
  

14 April, 2001 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Yang Mulia Tengku Datuk Dr Zainal Adlin, Chairman, Sabah Tourism Promotion Board

Mr Albert Teo, Project Chairman and Immediate Past Chairman MATTA Sabah Chapter

Mr Francis Chong, MATTA Sabah Chapter Chairman

Distinguished Guests, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the Executive Council of MATTA, represented here by me and my colleagues from MATTA Headquarters, Mrs Jenny Shabudin – Hon. Secretary General of MATTA, En Mumtaz Ali – Chief Operating Officer of MATTA, I wish to thank the MATTA Sabah Chapter for the kind invitation to attend this launching ceremony as well as the Sabah Chapter Annual General Meeting earlier this morning. 

I take this opportunity to thank Mr Albert Teo and his colleagues in the outgoing Chapter Committee for the successful efforts to bring MATTA’s programmes to the members in Sabah. Albert Teo has held the position for about 6 years and during his leadership, we have been able to position MATTA at the forefront in Sabah. At the same time, I wish to congratulate Mr Francis Chong on his appointment as the Chairman of the newly-elected Chapter Committee. I am sure that they will carry on the good work done by the previous committee and it is our hope that they will be able to bring the Chapter to even new heights.

The fact that YM Tengku Datuk Dr Adlin is here with is testimony of the close cooperation that the Chapter and the Sabah Tourism Promotion Board. We wish to thank him for the regard and the honour that he has given to MATTA by his gracing the event. Partnership between the public and private sectors was the topic of the recent APEC Tourism Forum held in KL last week and emphasized the need to find good partnerships for the development and promotion of tourism to be undertaken successfully. It seems that this is taking shape well in Sabah through MATTA’s active involvement in projects with the public sector. Partnerships should be created with all players in the industry, including the national carrier, Malaysia Airlines and other carriers, hotel and resorts as well as other associations.

Indeed, promoting tourism is necessarily a joint effort, and I am pleased to see that the Chapter has been proactive in this respect with the establishing of 2 websites, www.mattasabah.com and www.sabahtravelguide.com . We shall be linking these 2 sites from the MATTA info-website www.matta.org.my where MATTA’s activities and various information are available. This complements the new Membership Directory that was distributed this morning to members here, hot off the press.

The age of the Internet is already upon us. It is creating a borderless world and that presents a very big challenge to all of us. One effect is that foreign competitors can trade in our territory without need to physically setup office in Malaysia. MATTA is trying to help members to guide them to cope with this environment. We have held one E-Commerce Conference and we can bring similar conferences to other parts of the country with the help of the Chapters. 

The Internet and IT are sometimes thought of as being threats. However you should look at them as opportunities. They can help you to access the market easier. They can help you to be more efficient. However, to use it effectively, you have to restructure the way you think and work. So I urge you to embrace ICT and the Internet. Do not ignore it as it will be the most important tool for you. The first step after getting e-mail access is to create an info-website and this must be followed by going into e-commerce transactions.

The Sabah Chapter will have a very significant role to play on behalf of MATTA. The Executive Council has approved for the Sabah Chapter to be the organizer of the 1st MATTA Ecotourism Conference to take place in Sabah in 2002, the Year of Ecotourism. Doing this on behalf of all 1500 members of MATTA is a great responsibility but we are confident of the Chapter being able to do this after successfully organizing the World Ecotourism Conference in 1999.

Again, on behalf of the Executive Council, congratulation of the launching of the new websites and also on the successful holding of the Chapter’s Annual General Meeting.

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