Sabah goes into overdrive to woo more European tourists
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is actively engaging with European tourism players at the Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) Berlin to bring in more travellers from the region into the state.
The international tourism market trade fair, held in Germany recently, saw Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew, who is also in charge of the state’s tourism portfolio, led Sabah delegation to discuss potential collaboration with European travel agencies.
The collaboration would focus on promoting the state as a premier international tourist destination to European travellers.
Liew, in a statement, said the discussions paved the way for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Joint Marketing and Promotion Campaign between Sabah Tourism Board (STB) and two European travel agents.
“This will bring the number of MoUs to three, including one with Diethelm Travel Kota Kinabalu Sdn Bhd,” she said.
At the 2019 ITB Berlin, Liew also met with June Nielsen, the owner and managing director of InterTravel, Denmark which was founded in 1978, to discuss possible collaboration.
InterTravel is the travel agent that caters to travellers who are looking for unique travel experiences and have individual demands on destinations, mode or transportation and safety.
It has promoted Malaysia and Borneo in Europe for more than 30 years.
The cooperation proposal between STB and IntraTravel involves Joint Marketing and Promotion Campaign in Denmark via workshops, newspaper ads targeted at 250,000 readers and Facebook advertising.
“We offer beach holidays, package tours and fly-drive on either individual basis or as part of a group.
“We assure our prospective clients (from Denmark) of the personal service of some of the most well-travelled consultants in the Danish travel industry,” said Nielsen.
Liew, who was accompanied by STB chairman Ken Pan Ying On and general manager Suzaini Sabdin Ghani, also discussed marketing cooperation with Tischler Reisen AG managing director Michael Metzner.
Based on the discussion, which is to be followed by an MoU, the cooperation proposal between STB and the German travel agency is for the period from April to November this year.
It encompasses online promotion in the Tischler media and external media (in cooperation with Tourism Malaysia) and Sabah special page in two Tischler Newspapers “Tischler Reise Welten” and “Tischler Aktuell.”
These will be distributed to private customers and travel agencies Germany-wide and during Tischler promotion events or seminars for travel agents as well as the travel fairs from January to March 2020.
In addition, there will be a special Sabah promotion with selected travel agencies in co-operation with Tourism Malaysia.
Source: New Straits Times
