LAHAD DATU, 11 SEPTEMBER 2019 – In conjunction with the Sandakan Food and Agriculture Festival 2019, a total of 22 media representatives from various newspapers, magazines and social media platforms from Malaysia and Singapore are taking part in the media trip to Tawau, Lahad Datu dan Sandakan organised by Tourism Malaysia from 11 to 15 Sept 2019.

The programme is initiated to introduce the local media to various tourism products in the districts of Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan, as well as to help promote destinations in Sabah as a build-up to the Visit Malaysia 2020 (VM2020) campaign.

Moreover, the programme also aims to forge closer relations between the tourism promotion board, the tourism private sector players and the media.

The media will gain some fascinating experiences including cruising down Sungai Kinabatangan, soaking in the Lipad mud volcano, visiting historical places such as Agnes Keith House, St. Micheal’s Church, Puu Jih Shih Buddhist Temple, Sandakan Memorial Park and Sandakan Heritage Museum, as well as visiting Sim Sim Water Village, exploring the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and Rainforest Discovery Centre. Known as the seafood paradise, the participants will get to taste the fresh and delicious seafood cuisines at this east coast part of Sabah.

They will also get the chance to witness the launch of the Sandakan Food and Agriculture Festival 2019, which will be held for the second time at Bandar Kim Fung in Sandakan on 13 September. The event will showcase Sandakan food and agriculture products, and offers myriad of activities such Food Discovery race and unique dining experience around the town, farm excursion, tapai-making workshop, village stalls, food eating competition, cooking demo and SDK Grand Chef Competition.

Tourism Malaysia hopes that the media will share stories of their explorations of Sabah’s great nature with their readers and audience in their respective publications or social media platforms and in turn create the interest for them to visit “The Land Below the Wind”.

It is expected that some 80 to 100 stories will be generated by this group of participants, consisting of feature articles and postings and stories on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and blogs. From the sharing and re-posting of these entries, Tourism Malaysia looks forward to gain between 5 million and 6 million audience reach as the outcome of the media trip.

Fully utilizing the power of social media, hashtags such as #TourismMalaysia, #MalaysiaTrulyAsia, #cuticutimalaysia, #vm2020, #CutiCutiMalaysia, #VM2020 #GoSabahExperienceMore #SabahOkBah #SyiokOSabah #MalaysianHospitality and #MasWingsMates will be used throughout the programme to gain more traction for the publicity.

This media trip is organised in collaboration with Malaysia Airlines, MASwings, Sabah Tourism Board, Sandakan Tourist Association, Myne Resort Kinabatangan and Tabin Wildlife Resort.

Malaysia Airlines flies to Tawau twice a day every week and Sandakan once a day, while MASWings flies from Lahad Datu to Sandakan twice a day.

ENDS

For more media releases, media info and media features on Malaysia’s tourism industry, kindly visit the Media Centre of Tourism Malaysia’s website at http://www.tourism.gov.my/

MALAYSIA TOURISM PROMOTION BOARD OR TOURISM MALAYSIA is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia. It focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia as a preferred tourism destination. Since its inception, it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene. In 2018, Malaysia registered 25.8 million tourist arrivals and RM84.1 billion tourist receipts, placing it among the major tourism destinations of the world.

For press information, contact:

Muadz Samat
Assistant Director
Corporate Communication Division
muadz@tourism.gov.my
Tel: +603 8891 8755