Nothing like a good bargain to overcome a big scare.

The tourism industry looked healthy as bargain hunters thronged the Matta travel fair this weekend, trumping the spectre of MH370, which went missing last Saturday.  

The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) Fair organisers said that a crowd of over 10,000 surged the fair in just the first two hours of its opening yesterday.

When the fair ends tomorrow, vendors can be expected to ring in over RM150 million in new business and up to 40 percent of it will be for local tour packages under the ‘Visit Malaysia Year 2014' campaign. Over 100,000 visitors are expected at this year’s Matta fair.

While many are deeply saddened by the MH370 disaster, the bargains were just too good to resist.

“The attendance this year is much better... we are taken aback. It’s amazing!” Matta Fair's organising chairperson Judy Cheah told reporters at Putra World Trade Centre, where the three-day fair is being held.

“Shoppers are getting smart because they know that in March there are a lot of inventories, (unsold plane seats and tours). You have to shop now, if you take the time to shop, by the time you want to travel, it will be sold out,” she said.  

At the fair, all that marks the missing Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with 239 people onboard - which has been gripping the nation for over a week -  is just a huge whiteboard for people to write their messages on.

Most early shoppers ignored it as it was seemingly put up only for Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, who wrote this message on it after opening the fair: “My hope and prayers to the passenger in MH370" and scrawled his signature in giant strokes underneath as cameras flashed away.

Matta president Hamzah Rahmat also called the Matta fair attendance an “extraordinary feat, despite the haze.” Haze had shrouded Kuala Lumpur yesterday and reached unhealthy levels in parts of Selangor.

Hamzah said that even though many Malaysians sympathised with those missing on the ill-fated MH370 flight, he said the tragedy would not deter travels.

“It is unfortunate beyond words... no one wishes for this MH370 incident to happen,” Hamzah said. “But air travel is still the safest mode of travel. Road accidents you can find everyday, but not aircrafts accidents.”

Hamzah said Matta had also seen roaring sales in similar Kuching and Johor Bahru fairs. For the Kuala Lumpur event, Matta had hired over 200 staff to assist the shoppers and promotions were spread out over five halls occupying 24,000 square metres. In total, there were 475 local exhibitors and 1,058 international exhibitors.

‘Business as usual’

Meanwhile, travel agents were pleased to find that it was business as usual.

“Most of the customers here are looking for a cheap price... safety is not an issue. (If) they find the price is reasonable, they forget about MH370,” said John Leong, ticketing manager with Kris International Traveltours.

He said that many were looking to buy MAS tickets up to a year ahead, expecting it to be cheaper, but many went away disappointed.

“People are still asking for MAS but most dates chosen are unavailable - because they want peak season - December and Chinese New Year or school holidays,” Leong said.

One travel agent said that in the first few days immediately after MH370 was reported missing last Saturday, some had changed their travel arrangements or decided not to fly. But things quickly became normal again as travellers were mostly very practical.

“We don’t know when people want to hijack the plane, right? If people are afraid to travel then don’t buy ticket...,” said Nurwahidah Suhaimi ( left ), an agent for Triways Travel Network.

She said that like many Malaysians, she, too, wanted to know what happened to MH370 but no travel agent has so far stopped selling MAS tickets.

However, because Singapore Airlines is this year’s official sponsor for Matta, MAS has not set up a booth to sell its tickets. And some agents said they also minimised display of the MAS logo as a sign of respect for MH370.

Malaysian Harmony Tour and Travel, which runs tours to all over the world from Malaysia, said it, too, did not see MAS’s reputation as suffering much from MH370.

“MAS has got a good track record of safety standards, so there’s no reason why people would run away because of one incident. Furthermore, the outcome (of MH370) is not known yet.

“No, travel agents won’t drop MAS but maybe some consumers who are ‘pantang’ (fearful) may do that. But that’s minimal,” said Malaysian Harmony’s CEO Cooper Huang.

Huang ( right ) said that some pent-up demand was to be expected before the Matta fair.

“The crowd is telling you the story... people don’t want to travel, they won’t come,” Huang said.

            

Nazri opened the fair yesterday afternoon with much fanfare and Sarawakian and Taiwanese traditional dance performances in tribal costumes.

He said that Visit Malaysia Year 2014 campaign will be a “game changer” for the industry.

In 2013, Malaysia saw 25.7 million tourist arrivals, 2.7 percent more than 2012 and they spent just over RM65 billion. Tourism was the sixth largest contributor to the country’s national income.