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Luzi Matzig in TravelAsia
TravelAsia, April 4, 1997
By Raini Hamdi, Berlin
Diethelm Travel is strengthening its inbound operations
in Malaysia by agreeing to buy Borneo Expeditions and appointing
two managers to source for new business.
But Diethelm, the largest inbound operator in Thailand,
says other Malaysian operators should not fear its foray into
inbound.
Diethelm established itself in Malaysia about a year
ago when it bought Harpur Travel, which it subsequently renamed
Diethelm Travel Management Sdn Bhd, handling outbound and corporate
ticketing business.
It started to do inbound as well since February this
year.
Jeffrey Hanafiah, previously from Peter Stuyvesant
Travel, has been appointed manager-inbound in charge of Asia,
the Middle East and Americas, while Serge Huber, Diethelm's former
Vietnam manager, is the designated manager-inbound in charge of
the European market.
Chin Poh Ling, previously with Harpur, is responsible
for the overall operations in Malaysia as managing director.
In another move that will help its inbound drive,
Diethelm will become the majority shareholder of Borneo Expeditions
once all formalities to buy the company are completed within the
next few weeks.
This would enable Diethelm to establish a footing
in the soft adventure business in Malaysia, said Diethelm's group
general manager Luzi Matzig. Borneo Expeditions, with a staff
of 15, is a specialist in the area.
"The general trend is away from group travel
to individual travel, with FITs becoming more active. White-water
rafting, trekking Mount Kinabalu, etc, will grow in future,"
Matzig tipped.
The approach in gaining inbound business in Malaysia
would be the same as Thailand, with a full Diethelm Malaysian
tariff expected to come up soon. Like Thailand, it would feature
Malaysian classic tours combining the most important attractions
with regular departures at good rates, said Matzig.
Despite Malaysian destinations like Penang facing
tough times, Matzig said Malaysia overall "still had great
potential".
"The country is vast. There is potential for
tours and roundtrips, an area where money can be made, unlike
transfers," said Matzig.
To gain a foothold in the market, Diethelm has gone
to its existing contacts to see if they would like to use the
agency in Malaysia.
Asked if Diethelm's entry would pose a threat to
other Malaysian operators, Matzig said, "There is no threat.
We don't have coaches, so we will work with Mayflower if Mayflower
has them. In fact, I find that Malaysian agents are more open-minded
than Thai agents in working with their competitors. Asian Overland
has new white-water or soft adventure places, so we work with
them rather than reinvent the wheel. That's the way things should
be."
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