Smaller crowd at NATAS fair, but vendors are upbeat
SINGAPORE — The first day of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) Travel Fair saw fewer customers than the daily average last year, but vendors remained hopeful that the weekend crowds will help make up the numbers.
The fair kicked off yesterday with the notable absence of 24 travel agencies — including the “big four” of SA Tours, Chan Brothers Travel, Dynasty Travel and CTC Travel — which had boycotted the popular fair to start a rival one, citing a lack of transparency by NATAS, among other things.
NATAS said the fair drew 14,400 visitors yesterday, slightly down from the daily average of 17,000 it saw last year. However, vendors TODAY spoke to said their first-day sales were comparable to last year’s event, held in February.
Over 90 exhibitors are taking part in the three-day fair at the Singapore Expo, which will run until Sunday. Last year’s fair attracted 161 exhibitors. NATAS said it is confident that sales volume will remain similar to that of last year despite the drop in the number of vendors.
Vendors told TODAY that they hoped that the free admission to the fair would bring in the crowds during the weekend. Previous NATAS fairs charged an entrance fee of S$4.
Mr Jonathan Hee, ASA Holidays’ deputy managing director, said sales at the travel agency’s booth have been brisk. “We are still waiting for more people to come, but it is too early to say at the moment,” he said.
Some smaller travel agencies said the absence of the bigger players was a bonus for them.
Ms Millie Sze, from ATG Tours, said her company’s visibility had received a boost, something that would not have been possible if there were more bigger agencies at the fair.
In fact, she added, the company had not anticipated such a good response — a steady flow of customers have been coming to its booth since it opened for business at 10am yesterday.
S Travel’s tour sales and product development director Richard Yip said mid-sized agencies such as his were grateful to NATAS for organising a travel fair, which they were not capable of pulling off by themselves.
Regular patrons to the mega-fair, such as Madam Teo Eng Eng, felt it was considerably smaller this time.
“It is better this way ... It is not packed with booths as before and I can look through the deals without having to squeeze with people,” said Mdm Teo, 55.
A first-time visitor, Mdm Hidayah Zailani, said the free admission had prompted her family to visit the fair. “Since we are free and we don’t have to pay to enter, why not come in and take a look?” she said.
To help draw the crowds, NATAS has urged its vendors to come up with better deals. It also introduced a food and beverage segment at the fair that offers food selections from different parts of the world, such as Japan and Turkey. MATTHIAS TAY
