4th September 2026 - 4 min read
Travellers heading to the MATTA Fair this weekend should check what is and isn’t included in a travel package before paying, as extra costs can quickly add up, said Universiti Teknologi MARA Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management professor Dr Mohd Hafiz Hanafiah. He said travellers should look closely at what a package includes, what it leaves out, and what happens if their plans change.
Lower-priced packages may use low-cost flights or hotels further away from the city centre, while airport transfers and meals are charged separately. A package that is RM500 cheaper upfront may no longer be the better deal once you pay for transport, food, and other expenses that were excluded from the advertised price.
Change and cancellation terms can also vary. Some packages allow you to change your dates for a fee, while others may keep your deposit if you cancel. The price on the poster will not tell you how flexible the booking is.
The number of days stated on a package usually covers the period from departure to return, so flight and transit times come out of the time you spend at the destination. A seven-day package can work out to around five usable days once travelling time is taken into account.
Travellers are still paying for seven days of the package, even though only five may be spent at the destination. The hotel nights and other parts of the package still count against the price, even when some of the trip is spent travelling to and from your destination.
You may compare flight and hotel prices carefully, only to find that the cheaper hotel is an hour away from the places you want to visit. That can mean spending around RM100 a day on taxis or private drivers, which over a week adds another RM700 to the cost of the trip.
Before booking, check where the hotel is on a map against the places you plan to visit, and look up whether trains or buses run nearby.
When asking about packages at the travel booth, make sure the travel agency selling the package has a valid licence from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. The ministry keeps a searchable list of licensed travel agencies, which can be filtered by state and used to check licence details and validity dates. Payments should go to the company’s official account, with receipts kept for every transaction.
You can also ask which airline and hotel are included, what the package covers, and what they will have to pay separately. The deposit terms and cancellation policy should also be provided in writing.
Cards may not be accepted everywhere outside major tourist areas, so you may need some local currency for smaller purchases. Paying by card overseas also comes with foreign transaction fees of around 2% to 2.5%, though some travel credit cards return part of that in rewards or rebates on overseas spending.
A multi-currency debit card is another option if you want to convert and hold foreign currency before you fly. Travel insurance can also add to the cost of a trip, but going without it could be far more expensive if something goes wrong overseas. Medical treatment, emergency evacuation or lost baggage could add thousands of ringgit to the bill. Different policies offer different levels of coverage, so the cheapest option may not provide the protection you need.
Roaming charges, travel SIM cards and visa fees can add to the bill too, depending on where you are going.
Decide on your destinations, travel dates, and maximum budget before you arrive at the fair. Use the first walk through the halls to look rather than buy, collecting brochures and photographing offers so packages can be compared side by side.
The MATTA Fair runs from 4 to 6 September at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Since the fair is running for three days, there is time to go home, compare what you collected, and come back on the second or third day to book. Compare the final cost of each package before you book, rather than choosing the one with the lowest price on the poster.
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As a creative content writer, Eloise has covered finance, business, lifestyle topics, and even moonlights as a singer-songwriter outside of RinggitPlus. Her current interests are learning the best ways to optimise spending and credit card hacks to gain more airline miles.
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