24 April 2003
KUALA LUMPUR - MAS Golden Holidays , the travel arm of national carrier Malaysia Airlines, has extended its popular "Unwind in Bali" holiday packages to May 31.
The sales of the packages were "raking in such good sales" that the company decided to extend its shelf life by another two months. Launched on February 27 the validity was originally to end on March 31.
MAS head of marketing support, Raja Nordiana Zainal Shah, said the popularity of the four days/three nights packages was in the attractive rates and the variety of tours. Packages are priced from RM820 (US$216) and vary according to the standard of hotels and the tours.
"Consumers can choose the type of holidays they want, from the four days/three nights Mystical Bali tour or just spend three days just lying around the beaches of Kuta."
Another attraction is that travellers who purchase the special Bali package can still clock up Enrich points.
Asked whether the current fear of travelling due to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) had affected the sale of the extended packages, Nordiana said they were still selling well.
MAS Golden Holidays may extend the "Unwind in Bali" packages to beyond May 31.
"We’re looking at tweaking the packages if we are to extend it further. We will add in new hotels, in the Ubud area for instance, and refresh the current tours. Basically we want to listen to the market needs and work our packages to provide the consumer with an experiential holiday."
She said the overall cancellation for the other MAS Golden Holidays products has been minimal, with most travellers deferring their travel to a later date.
In view of this MAS has allowed the consumers who bought MAS air tickets and MAS Golden Holidays packages at the March MATTA International Travel Fair, for travel between July to October to SARS-hit countries, to defer travel to March 31, 2004.
Additionally MAS has reduced the minimum number of paxs required for the special fares for group travel from a minimum of 15 paxs to 11.
"From feedback from our sales staff and calls I received, many of our customers still want to travel but not right now. The extension of travel dates is part of MAS’ efforts to boost travel and to encourage our customers to keep travelling, albeit at a later date,” said Nordiana.
Email: operations@mas.com.my
www.malaysia-airlines.com
