The Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia (MOTAC), together with its promotional arm Tourism Malaysia, will collaborate with Tencent Holdings – China’s tech titan behind super app WeChat and mobile payment platform WeChat Pay – to create a digital tourism economy to attract Chinese outbound travellers to the country.
Siew Ka Wei, chairman of Tourism Malaysia, said: “We are working with Tencent Holding, which is the fourth most valuable Internet company in the world, to promote Malaysia to the 1.4 billion Chinese population.”
This digital content production and promotion platform, known as the Malaysia Smart Tourism 4.0 Initiative, is described by Malaysian tourism and culture minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz as “a key development and game-changer that will transform our tourism industry and take us to the next level”.
The initiative includes the creation of 40 five-minute videos that showcase unique holiday experiences in Malaysia including gastronomy, soft adventure, resorts and beaches, history, culture and heritage.
Siew said Tencent Holding staff will be in Malaysia to shoot the videos in May and the videos will include comments from key Chinese influencers. The videos will go live on the Tencent platform in July.
Targeted at the growing number of FIT travellers from China, there will also be links for holiday makers to book their holiday packages online.
China is currently the top medium-haul market to Malaysia and the third largest tourist source market after Singapore and Indonesia, while Malaysia is among the top 10 Asia-Pacific destinations preferred by Chinese tourists.
Last year, a total of 2.2 million Chinese tourists visited Malaysia, a growth of 7.4 per cent over 2016. Through this digital initiative, MOTAC and Tourism Malaysia hopes to attract eight million arrivals by the year 2020.
