THE MALAYSIAN Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA), which owns the organising rights to the World Islamic Travel Mart (WITM), is considering holding future editions of the annual event outside of Malaysia.

The inaugural WITM is scheduled to take place at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur from May 31 to June 2. As things stand, MATTA has secured this year’s venue for the next five editions of WITM.

“As this event is titled World Islamic Travel Mart and not ‘Malaysian International Travel Mart’, MATTA can host it in other parts of the world such as Dubai or Doha, should we decide to,” said MATTA president, Mohd Khalid Harun.

According to Khalid, the Malaysian tourism ministry’s decision to organise its first-ever Malaysian International Travel Exchange from May 31 to June 3, around the same time as WITM 2012, had not resulted in dampened demand for the latter.

“We announced our event (WITM) first. Both events also complement one other,” insisted Khalid.

“In any case, the more events you have, the more people will come (to the destination)," he added. "In fact, we will be providing a shuttle service between the two (event) venues at the request of the ministry."