All 160 booths at the Penang Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Fair 2022 have been fully taken up.

The Penang MATTA Fair 2022 will return on Aug 20 and 21 at the Setia SPICE Arena in Bayan Lepas after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

This year, there will be free shuttle buses to carry visitors from the mainland to the island to visit the fair.

The three locations are Sunway Carnival Mall, Masjid Jamek Seberang Jaya and Jalan Chain Ferry.

There will be four shuttles from the mainland to the fair at 10am, noon, 3pm and 5pm as for the return shuttles, the last one will leave the island at 7pm.

Penang MATTA Fair 2022 chairman Carolyn Leong said the 160 booths were occupied by travel agents, state tourism organisations, hotels, theme parks, family attractions and cruise agents.

"Visitors can look forward to reasonable packages from various travel agents for both domestic and international packages.

"There will be at least 16 flight tickets including two tickets to Los Angeles, United States, to be given out to the winners of the Buyer’s Lucky Draw.

"There will also be travelling accessories, hotel stays and sponsored meal vouchers, among others to be won.

"Every RM500 spent on domestic packages and every RM1,000 spent on international packages at the fair would entitle the customers to a lucky draw,” she said during a press conference at the MATTA Penang chapter office on Thursday (Aug 11).

MATTA Penang chapter chairman Vergis Matthew said out of the 160 booths, over 60% of the booths at the fair will be focused on domestic tourism.

"The rest will feature international tourism and packages.

"We have more than 80 travel options from licensed exhibitors to choose from as well cruise lines including Royal Caribbean and Genting Cruise," he said.

He added that they hoped to attract about 30,000 visitors and generate sales close to RM20mil during the fair.

Penang tourism committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said travel fairs have long been an important driver for the tourism economy.

"It is an occasion where potential and prospective travellers discover, explore and shop for the best and reasonable travel deals.

"The resumption of the travel fair is an indication that demand is present and increasing for tourism and tourism-related activities.

"It implies that the tourism ecosystem is back in the game with supply such as travel packages and travel fairs increasing to meet the surging demand, proving that both the local and global tourism market is ready to thrive again," he said.