Medan, 15 January 2009 - CAT and the North Sumatera Tourism Promotion Board (NSTPB) inked a strategic collaboration to support the travel and tourism players in the province by promoting the use of Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Tourism portal.
The portal with the Standard Online Tourism Architecture (SOTA) platform, will enable the agents from these three countries to promote their business internationally by enhancing their online presence.
"There are hundreds of travel agents here but only a few are active. So, with this portal, we hope the numbers will increase," said the head of North Sumatera Tourism Office, Ibu Ir Nurlisa Ginting on the sidelines of SOTA North Sumatera Conference here Friday.
The IMT-GT tourism portal was launched in Malaysia last year and receives over 100,000 searches everyday.
It will be promoted to Thailand in February, CAT chief executive officer Rohizam Md Yusoff said.
The partnership will see both parties working hand-in-hand in promoting and recruiting agents to go online and leverage on the number of networkings under the SOTA platform.
Currently, SOTA connects over 900 travel agents with over RM62 million online transactions recorded in 2008.
About SOTA
SOTA is the single online platform that enables hundreds of travel agencies, hotels, operators and many other travel and tourism providers to manage and market thousands of travel packages, room inventories and travel products. SOTA is a "business-in-a-box" web-based travel management platform that helps you reach your targeted online market. For more information, visit www.sotanetwork.com.
About IMT-GT
The Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) is a subregional cooperation initiative formed in 1993 by the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand to accelerate economic transformation in less developed provinces. The private sector has played and will continue to play a key role in promoting economic cooperation in IMT-GT.
Since it's formation, the IMT-GT has grown in geographic scope and activities to encompass more than 70 million people. It is now composed of 14 provinces in southern Thailand, 8 states of Peninsular Malaysia, and the 10 provinces of Sumatra in Indonesia.
