ITB Berlin News 2021 - Day 2 Edition

I REGION I ASIA I
VISIT
Selangor:
BR AND CARD
what strategy post Covid?
Malaysia’s "most developed state" claims to lead the way
with post-Covid tourism strategy
The Honourable
Hee Loy Sian
Chairman of Standing
Committees of Tourism,
Environment, Green Technology
and Orang Asli Affairs of Selangor
State, Malaysia
The Malaysian state of Selangor has a number of wonderful attractions
for visitors. But how has the state’s strategy changed in light of
the Covid-19 crisis? We put the question to the Honourable Hee
Loy Sian, Chairman of the Standing Committees of Tourism,
Environment and Green Technology of Selangor State, and
Azrul Shah Bin Mohamad, General Manager of Tourism
Selangor.
Hee Loy Sian: Selangor’s
position as the mostdeveloped
State in
Malaysia puts us in a
special position. This
is especially so when
it comes to strategies
for building future
economic stimulus
packages, especially
related to tourism,
in order to further
support the industry
and its players in
2021. Tourism Selangor
recently introduced
a domestic tourism
promotional campaigns:
“Eager to Travel? Pusing
Selangor Dulu!” and “Round
Selangor First!” At the same
time, targeting international
audiences, the “Splendid
Selangor, Take Me Anywhere”
campaign is geared towards
further-positioning Selangor on
the global map. We have been
running this international campaign
on digital platforms and across all
of Tourism Selangor’s social media
accounts. All the campaigns direct
online users to Tourism Selangor’s
official and revamped website, Selangor.
Travel, the preferred online directory for
Selangor tourism.
What new initiatives are being
launched?
Azrul Shah Bin Mohamad:
Acknowledging the power of digital
content, Tourism Selangor will engage
in an influencer marketing campaign
with Malaysian key opinion leaders
later in Q2, 2021. With overwhelming
responses received from the first
initiative in January, Tourism Selangor
is looking into future opportunities to
collaborate with more e-commerce
and booking engine platforms in 2021,
with a focus on boosting tourism in
the State and rebuilding the industry.
Tourism Selangor is also committed to
offering new experiences to travellers,
including its latest Selangor’s Virtual
Reality Travel Experience. VR videos will
feature all of Selangor’s nine Districts,
providing extra edge and allowing
future travellers to virtually experience
Selangor ahead of their travel to the
State. We are working on strengthening
Selangor’s tourism branding, which in
return encourages State development,
as well as enhancing infrastructure and
tourism facilities
Mr Azrul Shah
Bin Mohamad
General Manager,
Tourism Selangor, Malaysia
THE EVOLUTION OF
SELANGOR’S SOURCE MARKETS
Selangor’s main travel market
in Quarter 1, 2021 was of course
the domestic market. However,
Malaysia is planning to expand its
tourism capacity post-Covid by
seriously considering the “travel
bubble” notion. With recent positive
developments concerning Covid-19
vaccines, borders will hopefully
open soon - first to Southeast
Asian countries, before gradually
expanding to other countries with
low numbers of Covid-19 cases.
This creates an opportunity for
Tourism Selangor to keep pace with
evolving travel demand and paves
the way for the DMO in planning its
marketing strategy based on current
developments in tourism. During the
recovery phase, Tourism Selangor
is leveraging all possibilities and
opportunities, focusing on ensuring
the sustainably of Selangor’s tourism
industry players in these tough times
TOURISM SELANGOR
@ ITB BERLIN NOW
Tourism Selangor is leveraging ITB Berlin NOW
2021 as a platform to virtually meet potential
VISIT
BR AND CARD
clients for whom Malaysia is a preferred travel destination, or
those merely wishing to find more information on Selangor’s
tourism products.
Selangor is also open to collaborating with European media and
travel agencies on future Fam Tour plans to Selangor when travel
bans have been lifted. The DMO’s participation in ITB Berlin
NOW 2021 is a way of giving global exposure to Selangor’s
tourism products providing opportunities to the State’s tourism
industry players to market their products and travel packages to
the international travel sector
20 ITB BERLIN NEWS • WEDNESDAY 10 TH MARCH 2021
www.itb-berlin-news.com