Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi said that the arrival of foreign tourists for the aligned campaign of Visit Malaysia Year 2020 will indirectly bring economic benefits for residents in the rural areas. The campaign can grab a lot of visitors and foreign tourists to the country.

He also referred to the strategic cooperation between Tourism Malaysia and the Expedia group, which helped in promoting new and unique tourist spots in Malaysia, as well as places to stay, including homestays, in the rural areas.

He said “Through this strategic cooperation, both parties have begun a global campaign to attract tourists from Australia, Japan, and the United States to Malaysia. The economic spill-over will reach the rural areas, with aggressive and widespread promotions being carried out, including digitally and through the social media platform,”.

Mohamaddin said to realize the target of Visit Malaysia Year 2020, which aims to get 30 million arrivals in foreign tourists and revenue of RM100 billion, Tourism Malaysia had also leveraged on regional social media influencers and their fan-base to promote tourist destinations in Malaysia.

This was done through the Malaysia-Asean Tourism Influencers Key Opinion Leaders Programme (Maikol) and involved the participation of 25 social media influencers and key opinion leaders from nine ASEAN countries.

He said Malaysia would also be hosting various international events next year as well, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which would help to promote the country abroad in an exclusive manner.

To ensure the campaign’s success, Tourism Malaysia has also partnered with Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, and Malindo Air to fly the Visit Malaysia Year 2020 logo for promotions overseas, he added.