Tourism Malaysia director general, Datuk Seri Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, said Tencent will develop and produce the videos as they know their market best, and Tourism Malaysia will sponsor the production. — Picture by Ham Abu Bakar

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — China’s Tencent Holdings is set to draw more Chinese tourists to Malaysia through a new digital tourism ecosystem called Smart Tourism 4.0, a joint collaboration with Tourism Malaysia.

The initiative includes the joint production of 40 five-minute videos on Malaysia’s tourist offerings that will be then made available to the Chinese market.

Tourism Malaysia director general Datuk Seri Mirza Mohammad Taiyab said Tencent will develop and produce the videos as they know their market best, and Tourism Malaysia will sponsor the production.

“Malaysia has set a big target for tourists from China and therefore, a conventional approach is no longer relevant,” he told Malay Mail today.

Mirza also said Malaysia has set a big target for tourists from China and therefore, a conventional approach is no longer relevant.

“Over the years, digital is the solution for all forms of communication and it’s time for us to do something revolutionary.

“The reason we chose China for this initiative is due to its potential as the largest tourism market today, and they have even exceeded the targeted tourists to Malaysia by 2020,” he added.

Moving forward, the general director said they are looking into a similar platform for other big markets such as India, Europe and the United States.

The joint marketing promotion between Tencent and Tourism Malaysia include eight key opinion leaders (KOLs) and filming crew to Malaysia to shoot 40 videos with five minutes long for each video.

There are four themes selected, namely eating shopping, sun sea sand beach, eco-tourism-nature and forest, as well as culture and entertainment.

The places to be featured based on the themes will be in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Malacca, Johor (Legoland), Sarawak (Bako and Kuching), Sabah (Kota Kinabalu, Pulau Mantanani, Pulau Tiga and Kudat), Perak (Belum, Ipoh, Banjaran), Langkawi and Genting Highland.

Additionally, the videos aim to drive awareness and build up interest, to attract more Chinese tourists from the world’s fastest growing travel market.

These videos will reach a vast audience in China via Multi-channels such as WeChat, QQ, QZone, Tencent video browser and others, with the exposure of mass viewership.