The programme will bring the participants to Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Sabah, where various activities and challenges involving culture, people, nature and food, await them.
KUALA LUMPUR – A total of 84 celebrities and media from ten ASEAN countries participated in the fourth edition of the ASEAN Celebrity Explore Quest Malaysia, organised by Tourism Malaysia. Themed “ASEAN in My Heart”, the event combined exploration, photo & Instagram contest, telematch, product updates and group performances.
A press conference was held at Shangri-La Hotel by the Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz who also hosted a dinner to welcome all the participants.
The Explore Quest started at Sunway Lagoon Theme Park on October 7 after the official flag off by the Deputy Director General (Advertising & Digital) of Tourism Malaysia Dato’ Sri Abdul Khani Daud at 9.30am. It is scheduled to end in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, on 13 October.
This year, the programme will bring the participants to Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Sabah, where various activities and challenges involving culture, people, nature and food, await them. It is a fun way to introduce and promote new destinations and products in the country through new celebrities and media who have a strong following back home.
The participants will be exposed to some of the best tourism products in the country, which will enable them to help promote and sell Malaysia better. The media can produce articles to provide valuable information to their readers, while the celebrities can share their experiences and photos via social media to attract their fans and followers to Malaysia. Besides boosting the promotion of the country’s tourism destinations, the participation of ASEAN celebrities and media in the programme will also help raise awareness of ‘Visit ASEAN@50’ tourism campaign.
Malaysia Airlines is the official airline for the ASEAN Celebrity Explore Quest Malaysia 2016 while Gaya Travel is its media partner. The event is also supported by Sabah Tourism Board, Sunway Lagoon, Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur, D’Saji Titiwangsa and Sutera Harbour Resort Sabah.
The ASEAN market remains the largest contributor of tourist arrivals to Malaysia. In 2015, the market contributed 19.1 million tourists and RM44 billion in receipts, constituting 74% of the country’s total arrivals of 25.7 million and 63.7% of its total receipts of RM69 billion respectively. From January to June 2016, tourist arrivals from the ASEAN market recorded an increase of 5% against the same period last year.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
