THE Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) is to launch the consumer-facing Explore Mekong Giveaway programme, and is offering travel and tourism stakeholders a chance to raise their company profiles as sponsors.
The Giveaway project includes a website where travellers can create an online account, play games based on sponsors’ content to accumulate points and redeem points to claim travel prizes. As users return to acquire more points, they become familiar with sponsors’ brands and products.
Some two-thirds of sponsorship opportunities will be allocated to eligible social enterprises picked by MTCO, with four from each member country to be picked for a free sponsorship.
Larger organisations such as airlines, hotel chains and tour operators may participate as one of 12 premium sponsors.
Sponsors stand to benefit from prominent and interactive branding, promotions scheduling, product showcases, a dedicated sponsor profile page and value-added social media advocacy.
Mason Florence, executive director, MTCO, said: “We are very excited by the potential of this project. It ticks all the right boxes: it’s in the spirit of public-private partnership and in line with the MTCO’s objective to promote the Mekong region’s vast array of responsible, sustainable and community-based tourism credentials, and in turn to help spread the benefits of tourism more widely.”
The Explore Mekong Giveaway is the product of collaboration between MTCO – an intergovernmental body uniting the NTOs of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China – and Internet start-up FreePlayo.com.
