Banking on influencers to boost tourism
Published on: Friday, June 28, 2019
By: Ricardo Unto
TUARAN: Sabah Tourism Board (STB) is banking on influencer marketing to further boost the tourism promotion of the State, said Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Assafal P Alian.
In this digital age, he said, social media influencers have become an effective tool for tourism boards to promote their destination.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Using engaging contents, they have become ‘online ambassadors’, and leave influential testimonials for travellers from around the world, especially to the younger demographics,” he said when officiating the Digital Influencers’ Convention, here, Thursday.
The convention was made possible with the effort of Indian online travel publication Travel.earth and the support from partners like STB, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, and Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta), among others.
Noting that the convention is a good initiative to develop the State’s tourism industry, he said he is pleased to see many interesting participants in Sabah’s first Digital Influencers’ Convention.
“We have leading influencers, bloggers, Instagrammers, and YouTubers from various cities in India such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and others joining us today (Thursday), to connect, create inspiring travel content and share their expertise.”
ADVERTISEMENT
In 2018, he said, travellers from India made up 0.41 per cent of the international arrivals to Sabah.
“India is the most populated country after China and is projected to be the next outbound phenomenon for the travel market.
ADVERTISEMENT
“There are already more than 200 flights between various cities in India to Kuala Lumpur, and we hope to leverage on this existing traffic.
“There is so much potential for us to tap into this market to further introduce Sabah to a new market segment,” he said.
Assafal also hoped some of the India-Kuala Lumpur direct flights to be diverted to Kota Kinabalu.
Matta president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said the association had been working closely with the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and Travel Agents Federation of India (Tafi) to gain more positive results.
“Previously, we went to several Indian cities and we are now making inroads into India.”
However, Travel.earth co-founder Arun Raghu disclosed that not many Indians are aware of Sabah as a holiday destination.
“That is why we are trying our best to push Sabah, in terms of online visibility, through our site,” he said.
To this end, Assafal wished the Digital Influencers’ Convention can act as a platform to jumpstart the awareness of Sabah as a travel destination to the Indian market.
“I genuinely believe Sabah has a lot of potential that can cater to different kinds of travellers.”
The convention saw a huge response since its first announcement with over 300 applicants registering for it, only a select 54 had been chosen to attend the event.
These participants will get to witness various aspects of Sabah and its local culture on two days of tours.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
This will be followed by two days of convention with various sessions targeted at understanding digital platforms, influencer marketing and its benefits.
The event will end with an Awards Night where 31 awards will be given to the most deserving candidates based on their work and their levels of influence.